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COFVRICHT DEPOSIT 



THE 

FLORISTS' MANUAL 



...BY. 



WILLIAM scon. f^ 



A 

I^EFERENCE BOOK * 

FOR 

Commercial Florists. 



ILLUSTRATED. 
PRICE, FIVE DOLLARS. 



CHICAGO: 
FLORISTS' PUBLISHING COMPANY. 

1899. 



' ^' 4 J 



^" 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year iSqq, by 
the Florists' Publishing Company, in the Office of the Librar- 
ian of Congress, at Washington, I). C. 



TWO COPIES RECEIVED. 



^ 



SECOND COPY, 






-^^Sr, OF C07/c?^^ 



' or Co?i 



i^- 



.INTRODUCTION. 




^HE author of the following pages would never have assumed to instruct his brother florists, 
however limited their experience might be, had not he received many flattering comments 
on his cultural notes which appeared in the American Florist, and later in the Florists' 

Review. These notes were well received, even by men who were able to teach the author, 

'^ and brought to my busy desk hundreds of inquiries on a wide range of subjects, which I 

found were beginning to be a great tax on my time. 

Being made with that disposition which gratifies itself when any favor can be bestowed, we deter- 
mined in an unguarded moment to compile our knowledge of commercial plants into a volume, and if 
those who favor us with a perusal of its pages glean only one hint which may help them in, their busi- 
ness they will have received value for their money and we shall feel highly gratified aside from any 
pecuniary reward. We are one of those who esteem the respect and approbation of our fellow men, 
and particularly those in our own calling, far above riches, but if a substantial reward is sent us for our 
labors we shall again be grateful. 

A friend of venerable age, with some experience as a writer, a student of horticultural lore, told 
me last winter that a business man should not attempt to be a literary man. We scarcely even then 
realized the truth of his words as we have the past three months. We scarcely knew at the start what a 
task we had undertaken. The writing has been done at odd hours snatched from business cares, and 
no little midnight oil, or rather gas, has helped the book along. 

It was difiicult to determine the hmit of the book, but as will be apparent few plants are noticed 
but those of commercial value, and those only in a strictly commercial way. Had we known of any 
work giving plain cultural directions for our leading plants this book would not have been begun. My 
own business embraces nearly every branch, from selling a bunch of violets over the counter to planting 
a tree or seeding a lawn or building a greenhouse, and therefore we have with confidence touched on 
several features of the business besides the growing. 

This book was never intended for men who have made specialties of a few plants with great 
success. Being specialists they have reduced their business to a science and make no mistakes, but 
they are few compared to the great army of florists who grow and retail and have to handle a great 
variety of plants. Many of these are not graduates of horticultural establishments but have left some 
other calling to engage in floriculture. Another class is the young man who has been brought up in 
places where the rose or carnation, or perhaps palms, was the specialty and where the opportunity of 
observing the care or culture of other plants was limited. To such a one we believe this book will 
be of service. 

Looking back over thirty years' experience in this country we are amazed and gratified at the 
enormous strides the business of floriculture has made, and why should the limit be yet reached.' We 
believe with confidence that the use of flowers and plants'is yet to grow tenfold. They are the hand- 
maid of refinement, good taste and real gentility, all of which is blessing the mass of the people more 
and more. We believe that our florist shop keepers and their clerks could imbibe a little more knowl- 
edge of the plants they handle without any detriment to their health or prosperity. 

We wish to acknowledge to Mr. W. H. Taplin the several valuable articles on choice palms, 
ferns and cycads which bear his initials. It must be acknowledged that there is no better authority 
than Mr. Taplin on those special plants. For the very practical chapter on commercial Orchids we 
are indebted to Mr. Wm. Hewson, who handles a cattleya with the freedom, quickness and success that 
some men do a geranium. To my good friend John F. Cowell, Director of our Botanic Gardens, I am 
indebted for access to and hints on his collection of Nepenthes, Bromeliads, etc. The remainder of 
the pages are my own experience and observation. 

If you think there is sometimes a little extraneous matter that is not connected with the subject, 
and may be called frivolous, don't blame the author, he could not help it no matter however much he 
tried to suppress it; occasionally there had to be a slight relief from the dry monotony of the subject. 

And last the author owes much to Mr. G. L. Grant, the publisher, who has so ably put the matter 
in form and finely illustrated many of the subjects. 

With a fervent wish that with all its imperfections these pages will be appreciated by many, 
I remain, with some confidence and much hope. 

Yours very sincerely, 

WILLIAM SCOTT. 



Whatevef ability I may possess in the glorious field 
of horticultufe, although far less than my early oppor- 
tunities afforded, I inherited from my beloved father, 
who was a good man and a great gardener, and to whose 
memory, with reverence, I dedicate these pages. 

WILLIAM SCOTT. 



CONTENTS, 



Abutilon 9 

Acacia 9 

Acalypha 1<> 

Acanthophoenix 10 

Acer japonicum 10 

Achillea 10 

Achimines 11 

Acrophyllum 11 

Adiantum 11 

Agapanthus 14 

Agave 14 

Ageratum 15 

Allamanda 15 

Alocasia 15 

Aloysia citrioclora Ifi 

Alt.ernai)thera IG 

Amaranthus IG 

Amaryllis 1 G 

Ampelopsis 17 

Ananas 17 

Annuals 18 

Anthericura IS 

Anthurium IS 

Antirrhinum IS 

Aponogeton distachyon 18 

Aquatics 19 

Araucaria 20 

j^Ardisia 20 

Aristolochia 21 

Asparagus 21 

Aspidistra 2^ 

Asplenium 22 

Aster 23 

Astilbe japonica 24 

Azalea 25 

Balsam 2R 

Bay Trees 26 

Bedding Plants 27 

Begonia 31 

Bellis 33 

Bottom Heat 34 

Bougainvillea 34 

Bouvardia 35 

Bromeliads 35 

Browallia 35 

Bulbs 35 

Caladium 39 

Calamus 40 

Calceolaria 40 

Camellia 41 

Canna 42 

Carludovica 44 

Carnation 44 

Celosia 53 

Centaurea 54 

Cheiranthus 54 

Chrysanthemum 54 

Cineraria 56 

Clematis 57 

Cobea 59 

Cold-frames 59 

Coleus 60 

Cosmos 61 

Cotyledon 62 

Criniim 62 

Crocus 62 

Croton 63 

Cycas 63 

Cyclamen 64 

Cytisus 65 



Dahlia 65 

Decorations 67 

Decorative Material (Wild) 69 

Decorative Plants 71 

Deutzia 73 

Dianthus 73 

Dracaena 73 

Drainage "5 

Easter Plants ^6 

Epacris 80 

Erica 80 

Eriostemon 81 

Eucharis 81 

Eupatorium .. 83 

Euphorbia ■ ■ ., 83 

Ferns 84 

Fertilizers and Manures 92 

Ficus 94 

Fittonia 95 

Floral Arrangements 95 

Freesia 100 

Fuch.sia 102 

Fungicides and Insecticides 103 

Cardenia lOG 

Gerr«niuni 1 ftG 

Gladiolus 109 

Glazing 110 

Glechoma Ill 

Gloxinia Ill 

Grasses Ill 

Greenhouse Building 112 

Grevillea robusta 120 

Hardy Perennial Plants 120 

Hardy Shrubs 122 

Heating 125 

Hedera (Ivy) 131 

Hedge Plants 131 

Heliotrope 132 

Hibiscus 132 

Hollyhock 133 

Hotbeds 133 

Hoya 134 

Hydrangea 134 

Impatiens Sultani 134 

Iresine (Achyranthes) 134 

Jasminum 135 

Kalmia 135 

Koeniga (Sweet Alyssum) 135 

Lantana 135 

Llapageria 135 

Lawns 136 

Libonia 137 

Liliuni 13S 

T.ily of the Valley 140 

l^inum trigynum 142 

Uibelia 142 

I^ysimachia 142 

Manettia 142 

Maranta 143 

Martinezia 143 

Maurandya 143 

Metrosideros 144 

Mignonette 144 



Mimulus 145 

Moon Flower 145 

Mulching 145 

Musa 146 

Myosotis 146 

Nepenthes 146 

Nierembergia 146 

Oleander 147 

Orchids 149 

Othonna 159 

Oxalis 160 

Packing Flowers 160 

Packing Plants 162 

Paeonia 164 

Palms 165 

Pandanus 174 

Panicum variegatum "6 

Pansy 176 

Pelargonium 178 

Peperoniia 179 

Perilla nankinensis 180 

Petunia 180 

Phlox Drummondii 180 

Phlox (Herbaceous) 180 

Pinks 180 

Poinsettia 181 

Potting 181 

Primula 183 

Rhododendron 184 

Richardia Africana 185 

Ricinus 185 

Roses 185 

Salvia 199 

Santolina 200 

Sedum 200 

Seed Sowing 2O0 

Selaginella 201 

Shading 202 

Skimmia japonica 202 

Smilax 202 

Soils 203 

Solanum 205 

Stephanotis 205 

Stevia 205 

Stocks 205 

Store Management 206 

Swainsona 210 

Sweet Peas 210 

System 213 

Thur.bergia alata 215 

Torenia 215 

Tropaeolum 215 

Tuberose 216 

Vallota purpurea 216 

Vases 217 

Ventilation 218 

Veranda Boxes 219 

Verbena 220 

Vinea 220 

Violet 220 

Watering 222 

Zinnia 224 



THE 

Florists' Manual. 



ILLUSTRATED. 



A Reference Book for Commercial Florists, 



ABUTILON. 

Greenhouse shrubs with drooping, 
bell-shaped flowers, ranging In color 
from pure white to crimson and 
purple, mostly erect In growth. A few 
of the species will endure a few de- 
grees of frost, but they are best treat- 
ed as cool greenhouse plants during 
our winters. The hybrids now both 
in beauty of leaf and flower far sur- 
pass the true species. They are 
largely used in sub-tropical flower 
gardening, growing very freely in our 
warm summers and are fine ornamen- 
tal plants for the conservatory, and 
can either be grown as specimen plants 
in pots or trained to pillars or raft- 
ers. As a commercial plant, except 
for flower gardening, they are not of 
great value, being strong growers and 
occupying too much room for their 
value. 

They are easiest propagated from 
the young tender growths. If desira- 
ble to increase your stock in the fall, 
September is the best month, keep 
ing the sand very moist and not al- 
lowing the cuttings to wilt from the 
heat or sun. The plants lift from the 
open ground perfectly in October and 
if cut back during the winter will give 
you lots of cuttings which root most 
easily in the ordinary propagating 
bed. 

A. vexillarium is a drooping species 
and used largely in hanging baskets, 
veranda boxes and carpet bedding. 
For a drooping plant for a vase they 
should be propagated in September 
from the young shoots of plants grow- 
ing outside. By spring these should 
be in 3-in. pots and are most useful 
for the purpose described. 

Abutilons are troubled with few 
enemies. The hose will keep down 
mealy bug, and aphis seldom appear. 
Any soil that water passes freely 
through will grow abutilons, but much 
manure should be avoided, as most of 
the kinds are very free growers. The 
following varieties are fine decorative 
plants: Savitzii, green and white fo- 
liage; Mrs. J. Laing, strong grower, 
flowers bright rose; Souvenir de Bonn, 
variegated foliage, orange flowers; 
Infanta Eulalie, compact grower for 
pots, flowers pink; Boule de Niege. 



pure white; Thompsoni plena, free 
blooming double orange. 

ACACIA. 

A very large genus of shrubs or 
trees. Those of most commercial val- 
ue are from temperate regions. South 
Australia and New South Wales. Some 
of the species, armata, for instance, 
make neat, compact plants for pot 
culture, while pubescens, one of the 
most graceful of all, is splendidly 
adapted for training on a pillar or 
wall of a light, cool house. A tem- 
peratuie of 45 degrees in winter will 
suit the commercial species, but their 
flowering can be hastened several 
weeks by more heat and at all times 
an abundance of water. They are 



most free flowering and the prevailing 
colors are lemon and yellow. In a 
temperature of 45 to 50 degrees most 
of the species flower from February to 
May. A good loam with a fourth of 
leaf-mould or in the absence of the 
latter, Jadoo, will grow any of the 
acacias, but the soil should always be 
in that condition from proper drain- 
age that water passes freely through 
it. 

They are propagated from the half 
ripened wood in May or June, that is, 
the shoots made the previous spring. 
Place the cuttings in pans of sand or 
leaf-mould and sand and place the 
pans in a cold-frame, which shade on 
hot days and keep close till growth 
begins. When rooted, pot off and grow 





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Acacia Pubescens. 



10 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



on in a cold frame. During the follow- 
ing winter keep in a cool house and 
after danger of frost shift into larger 
pots and plunge outside, where they 
must be well supplied with water. 
They should be stopped as soon as 
they grow in the spring to induce a 
branching growth. Although their 
propagation is not difficult, it will be 
found by the majority of our florists 
more profitable to import those plants 
that are wanted for our spring sales, 
as the price of well grown, compact 
plants is very low and they endure the 
passage without the slightest injury. 
Any plants unsold after flowering 



ACALYPHA. 

A genu.s of tro])ical shrubs that are 
grown entirely for the attractiveness 
of the leaves excepting the very re- 
cent introduction, A. Sanderi, which 
has long, cylindrical, pendulous 
flowers and is very ornamental. The 
acalypha is grown largely in Europe 
as an ornamental stove plant, but 
with us its chief value is as a sum- 
mer bedding plant for mixed borders 
or sub-tropical beds. As most all the 
species are from the tropical islands 
of the Pacific, their requirements can 
be judged accordingly. 




Acanthophoenix Crinita. 



should be cut back severely, shifted if fp 
needed, and plunged outside during 
summer. Few insects of any kind, 
attack the acacia; plenty of water at 
all times and syringing except when in 
flower is what they want. 

A. pubescens is not adapted for pot 
culture, but is the most graceful of all 
the genus, and for cutting as sprays is 
most valuable. It should be planted 
out either as a standard or against a 
pillar or wall. The most valuable spe- 
cies for pot culture for the commercial 
rtorist is armata, small globular flow- 
ers which cover the whole plant; deal- 
bata, strong grower with handsome 
yellow racemes; Drummondi, a fine 
compact plant with drooping, cylin- 
drical lemon colored flowers. There 
are hundreds of species, most all wor- 
thy of a place in a conservatory, but 
the few species mentioned above are 
the best for commercial use. 



The most economical way to pro- 
duce plants for spring use is to lift a 
few old plants before any danger of 
frost. These could be used for deco- 
rating till January, then shorten back 
the shoots, and if the plants are in a 
strong heat they will soon give you 
a number of young growths, whicli 
root readily in the sand in a good 
bottom heat and by end of May, if 
kept warm, will be just what you want 
for planting out in spring. A well en- 
riched loam is all they want. 

There are half a dozen or more de- 
sirable species and varieties which 
give a variety of bronze, brown, green, 
red, orange and carmine, blotched and 
variegated, making them very orna- 
mental for summer gardening. 

ACANTHOPHOENIX. 

A. crinita is a remarkably handsome 
warm house palm that has been in 
cultivation for the past thirty years, 



but is still rather an uncommon spe- 
cies. It has much the habit of growth 
of an areca, the leaves being pinnate, 
the leaflets long and drooping, and the 
plant iu general very graceful in ap- 
pearance. 

One of the characteristics that dis- 
tinguish acanthophoenix from areca is 
very distinct in the species in question, 
namely, the fact that the former is 
abundantly supplied with long black- 
ish spines all along the stems, while 
no true areca bears spines, and in ad- 
dition to this the under side of the 
leaves of A. crinita is silvery white. 
The latter peculiarity doubtless ac- 
counted for an erroneous name under 
which this palm was once introduced, 
that is. Calamus dealbata. 

Being a native of Seychelles, and 
probably of low moist land near the 
coast of that island, we find that this 
palm is best suited under stove cult- 
ure, a night temperature of 70 degrees 
and plenty of water being among the 
chief essentials to its welfare, while a 
rather light and well drained soil 
seems to give the best results. 

In common with palms in general 
that I'equire warm treatment, there is 
the ever-present probability of finding 
some injurious insects on acantho- 
phoenix, the most likely pests being 
scale and, unless well syringed, also 
red spider, but with proper attention 
these pests may be kept down, and so 
beautiful a palm is worthy of a little 
extra attention in the line of cleanli- 
ness. 

Seeds are the only means of propa- 
gation for A. crinita, and as the seeds 
of this species sometimes take over 
two years to germinate, it is scarcely 
probable that this palm will become 
popular for trade purposes. W. H. T. 

ACER JAPONICUM (JAPAN MAPLE.) 

The Japan maples are now grown in 
pots for conservatory decoration, and 
many are sold and forced for Easter. 
They are largely imported, but can 
also be obtained from American nur- 
series. Being perfectly hardy they 
can be procured in the fall and stored 
away in a cold-pit till they are wanted 
to pot and force. Give them two 
months in the house from time of pot- 
ting till they are wanted in full leaf. 
If forced rapidly they are more likely 
to wilt when exposed to cold wind or 
dryness. 

While I have alluded to these in the 
article on "Trees and Shrubs" I will 
add here that they are most beautiful 
little ornamentals for the lawn, either 
in groups or singly. They proved dur- 
ing the last unusually long, cold winter 
to be entirely hardy, coming through 
the winter unhurt and without the 
slightest protection. 

There are several varieties of A. Ja- 
ponicum, the foliage shaded from yel- 
low to blood red, and all are worth 
growing. 

ACHILLEA. 

This is a large genus of hardy peren- 
nials, many of them suitable for the 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



n 




Vase of Achillea the Pearl. 



border and many are very valuable for 
the rockvi'ork, but of little use to the 
florist. The one most useful to the 
florist and deserving special notice is 
"The Pearl." This little plant will 
thrive in any soil, is absolutely hardy, 
and should be in every florist's gar- 
den. It flowers in July and August. 

It is most useful as a cut flower, and 
we have found it of great service in 
design work when short of carnations. 

The plants spread rapidly and every 
third or fourth year they should be 
lifted, divided, and replanted in more 
compact rows in the garden. This can 
be done in early spring and you will 
not lose the following summer's crop 
of flowers. 

The plant is remarkably free flower- 
ing, it being just a mass of the small 
heads of white blooms, but what makes 
it of more than ordinary value is the 
good stem you can cut with the flow- 
ers. 

ACHIMINES. 

Hot-house herbaceous perennial 
tuberous-rooted plants that are held 
in high esteem in the gardens of Eu- 



rope but seldom seen here. They are 
usually grown in pans from 6 to 12 
inches across and 4 inches deep. They 
should have drainage and the compost 
should be a good light loam to which 
has been added a fourth of leaf-mould 
and rotted mauure. They like neither 
a stagnant moisture nor a heavy soil. 

Although not at all likely to become 
popular as a commercial plant they 
are by no means difficult to grow. 
The small soft roots should be planted 
in the pans about one inch apart in 
February or March, pressing the roots 
into the soil half an inch below the 
surface, and started growing in a 
temperature of 60 degrees. Later on, 
as spring advances, any house will do 
for them. Shade from the hottest 
suns. As they grow they like an 
abundance of water, and being sub- 
ject to greenfly and red spider they 
must be lightly but regularly fumi- 
gated, and up to flowering time give 
them a daily syringing. 

They are, however well grown, en- 
tirely useless unless each stem is tied 
to a small stake. They last a long 
time in flower. 'When flowering is 



done gradually withhold water till 
the foliage is entirely gone, then store 
away under a warm, dry bench till the 
following spring. In starting them in 
the spring shake out of the old soil 
entirely. They are propagated by cut- 
tings, pieces of the stem growing free- 
ly in the spring with bottom heat; 
also by seed, sown in early spring. 
The beginner had. however, lietter 
buy the roots from a seedsman. 

Although not of commercial value 
the achimines is a splendid plant for a 
private greenhouse during the sum- 
mer months. There is a score of spe- 
cies, nearly all from tropical America, 
and from these hundreds of hybrid 
varieties. And it is the hybrids that 
are cultivated. 

ACHYRANTHES. 

See Bedding Plants. 

ACROPHYLLUM. 

A small evergreen shrub that is 
valuable for the private conservatory, 
flowering freely during the spring 
months. It is at home in a cool green- 
house but must not be exposed to frost. 
In summer it can be plunged outside. 
They require shifting as they grow, 
which should be done before they 
flower in spring. They can he propa- 
gated from the half-ripened wood in 
May and June. Like most of the Aus- 
tralian plants they thrive in a good 
coarse loam. A. venosum is the only 
species, which bears dense spikes of 
pinkish white flowers. 

ADIANTUM. 

For the most useful commercial adi- 
antums see the article on Ferns, in 
which all the most important commer- 
cial ferns are treated collectively. The 
following adiantum notes are by Mr. 
W. H. Taplin: 

A. LEGRANDL The maidenhair 
family includes a wonderful variety in 
both size and form, and a collection 
embracing all the distinct forms 
grown into specimens would occupy a 
very large house. 

A, Legi-andi belongs to the dwarf 
section, the stipes or stems being us- 
ually but a few inches in length and 
the fronds vei-y compact and closely 
clothed with small pinnae. In fact the 
growth in small plants is so close and 
overlapping that the foliage is quite 
subject to damping off unless the 
house in which it is grown is kept well 
ventilated. 

Regarding the origin of this fern but 
little is known, and it seems probable 
that it is a seedling variation from 
Adiantum Pecottii, which it very much 
resembles, the chief distinction appar- 
ently being found in the longer leaf 
stems of A. Legrandi, while both va- 
rieties present the same dark green 
color of the foliage. As a trade fern 
A. Legrandi has not become promi- 
nent, and as a matter of fact it is less 
frequently seen in trade collections 
now than it was a few years ago, the 
demand in this line being confined to 



12 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



rS-yy^i. 




Adiantum Legrandi. 



ferns that are more sturrtv and less 
brittle. 

The culture of A. Legrandi presents 
no special difficulty, apart from the 
liability to damping that has already 
been alluded to, and by keeping the 
water off the foliage and giving free 
ventilation, the trouble from this 
cause may be reduced greatly. 

In getting up specimens of these 
small growing adiantums for exhibi- 
tion puiposes, it is a good plan to 
group several young plants in a pan 
about 10 inches in diameter, and a 
shapely plant may thus be formed in 
a few months by treating them in the 
same manner as one would A. cune- 
atum for a similar purpose. 

A. MACROPHYLLUM. This is one 
of the most distinct of the large fam- 
ily of maidenhair ferns, and as a mat- 
' ter of fact to many persons to whom 
the idea of a maidenhair fern is asso- 
ciated with the light and airy fronds 
of A. cuueatum, the rather stiff and 
heavy looking leaves of this species 
would seem to belong to an entirely 
different genus. 

The large pinnated species of adian- 
tuni, among which we find A. macro- 
phylluni, A. peruvianum. A. See- 
mannii and A. Wilsonii. form a very 
interesting group, and one which adds 
greatly to the beauty and variety of a 
collection of ferns. Adiantum macro- 
phyllum is a moderate growing spe- 
cies, the fronds being erect, from one 
to two feet high, simple pinnate, and 
having stiff black stems. 



bright pink in coloi'. finally changing 
to deep green. 

The pinnae of the fertile fronds are 
usuall.v smaller, the spores being found 
in an almost continuous band around 
the margin. These spores germinate 
fairly well if carefully gathered and 
preserved, and the young plants thus 
secured are niu<di better than thot-e ob- 
tained from division of the old crowns, 
as they grow more freely and in better 
form. 

No special difficulty is experienced 
in the culture of A. macrophyllum, 
the main features being a moderately 
light soil, good drainage, and the glass 
shaded throughout the greater portion 
of the year. In regard to temperature, 
the same may be given as to A. Far- 
leyense. namely, from 65 to 70 degrees 
at night, and also like the latter va- 
riety it may be said that A. macro- 
phyllum does not like a strong draught 
over the young foliage while unfold- 
ing, else it is likely to be crippled, 
though after the fronds of this species 
are fully hardened they will stand 
quite a good deal of exposure without 
injury. 

A. macrophyllum is a native of the 
West Indies and tropical America, and 
has been in cultivation for a little 
more than a century, though yet un- 
common in trade collections. 

A. MUNDULUM. This is one of the 
many interesting and useful forms of 
Adiantum cuneatum, and is correctly 
termed Adiantum cuueatum mundu- 




Adiantum Macrophyllum. 



The pinnae of the barren fronds are 
very large, being frequently three to 
four inches long, by about two inches 
wide, and when first unfolding are 



lum. The varietal name, which signi- 
fies neat, is well applied in this case, 
the plant being of dwarf and com- 
pact habit, and is better adapted for 



The Floiusts' manual. 



J3 



small ferneries than as an exhibition 
plant. 

The fronds of A. c. niundulum are 
shorter and rather stiffer than those of 
the parent form, not often more than 
nine or ten inches long, very dark 
green, and closely furnished with nar- 
row, wedge-shaped pinnae. In general 
outline the fronds are deltoid, and 
when well matured they possess sufll- 
cieut substance to be useful in cut 
flower work, where a small frond is 
required. 

A. c. mundulum comes true from 
spores, and also germinates freely, the 
spores being produced abundantly on 
old plants, and it flourishes under tlit; 
same treatment as A. cuneatura. thus 
being by no means diflticult to man- 
age. 

Nicely grown plants in 3-iuch pots 
are very short and bushy, and may be 
used to advantage where A. cuneatum 
proves too tall, and if the plants are 
not soft when used, will possibly last a 
little longer than the last named fern, 
under the same conditions. 

A. c. mundulum is of garden origin, 
and although in cultivation since ISTSt, 
is not frequently met with in the trade, 
in fact, seems scarcer now than it wa.s 
ten years ago, no doubt owing to the 
greater demand for ferns of more en- 
durance than is found among the maid- 
enhairs in general. 

A. TETRAPHYLLUM. Among the 
less common species of maidenhair 
ferns, Adiantum tetraphyllum is de- 
serving of special mention, and some 
idea of its general outline may be had 



from the illustration which accompa- 
nies this note. But. unfortunately, an 
ordinary photograph fails to show us 
the fine distinctions of coloring that 
present themselves in the living plant, 
and in consequence we are compelled 
to fall back upon cold type for our 
descriptions. 
The plant in quej^tion has been found 



in fern collections for many years 
past, and has produced an occasional 
variation in form from time to time, 
though it is not a notably prolific spe- 
cies, perhaps the best of these varia- 
tions from the type being that known 
as A. tetraphyllum gracile, in which 
the pinnae are rather narrower than 
those of the original species and the 




Adiantum Mundultim. 




Adiantum Tetraphyllum, 



young fronds show a higher coloring 
than is found on the type. 

A. tetraphyllum may be classed as 
a moderate grower, the fronds reach- 
ing a height of 12 to 15 inches, and are 
usually four times divided, or rather 
divided into four segments. While un- 
folding the young fronds are frequent- 
ly bright pink, this color gradiially 
fading as the frond develops, until the 
mature leaf becomes dark -green. 

This species prefers warm house 
treatment, is evergreen, and grows 
best in a rather loose and open com- 
post. It requires plenty of water at 
the root, but during the winter espe- 
cially should not be watered overhead 
frequently, or the fronds are liable to 
become rusty. Snails seem to have a 
special liking for the young foliage of 
A. tetraphyllum. and close watching 
is required to get the best of these 
pests. 

A. WIEGANDII. A few years since 
a much greater variety of ferns seemed 
to be grown for florists' use than is 
now found among the large trade 
growers. It is evidently a case of the 
survival of the fittest, or rather of the 
species and varieties that may be pro- 
duced in large quantities with a mini- 
mum expenditure of time and labor. 
Adiantum Wiegandii is one of those 
varieties that has almost disappeared 
within a few years, though it is not a 
particularly tender fern, or one that is 
difficult to reproduce. 



14 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



We mention it as a variety ratlier 
tiian a species, because it seems prob- 
able tliat tliis fern is a form of Adian- 
tnm capillus-veneris, or else a cross 
between tliat species and A. cuneatiim, 
its origin being somewhat obscure. 
But be this as it may, the fern in ijues- 
tion is a very attractive plant of dwarf 
and sturdy growth, the fronds being 
almost upright, having black stems 
and rather large pinnae that are in- 
clined to be cristate. 

A. Wiegandii is compact in habit 
and in a large plant reaches a height 



AECHMEA. 

See Bromeliads. 

AERIDES. 



See Orchids. 

AGAPANTHUS. 

A genus of strong growing, hand- 
some greenhouse plants which do well 
out of doors during summer, and when 
slightly protected will live through 
the winter where there is not more 
than 10 degrees of frost. In the 




Adiantum Wiegandii. 



of 12 to 15 inches, and holds its foliage 
in good condition during the winter. 
This fern comes freely from spores, 
the latter being plentifully borne by 
plants a year old and upwards, and the 
seedlings soon become satisfactory 
plants in 3-ineh pots if treated in the 
same manner as A, cuneatum, a night 
temperature of GO degi'ees being a 
proper mark at which to carry these 
ferns. 

But little trouble is experienced 
from "damping" of the foliage with A. 
Wiegandii during the winter, even 
when grown quite close together, the 
regular use of the hose having less ef- 
fect upon this fern than is often found 
with adiantums of low and compact 
habit. Thoroughly matured fronds 
stand well when cut, and the small 
plants will last longer than those of A. 
cuneatum in a fern pan, providing 
they are not used in too soft a condi- 
tion. 



south of England A. umbellatus does 
well planted out of doors, with us it 
requires large pots or tubs and thrives 
in a well enriched coarse loam. In 
summer you cannot well over water 
them. In winter they can be stored 
under a bench in a cool house and will 
then require very little water. But be 
careful after so keeping them all win- 
ter not to expose them to a late spring 
frost or they will suffer and their 
beauty be marred for the whole sum- 
mer. They grow very fast and can be 
rapidly multiplied b.v division. 

The varieties are all from A. um- 
bellatus, introduced into Europe from 
South Africa two centuries ago. Its 
erect stem and showy umbel of bright 
blue flowers is familiar to all. The 
best known varieties are albidus, pure 
white; aureus, leaves striped; varie- 
gatus, smaller but finely variegated 
leaves; and maximus, a blue of the 
largest size, as its name denotes. 



AGAVE. 

This noble genus includes a great 
number of species, one of them at 
least being known to every one — the 
well known "Century Plant." All the 
species have one characteristic: when 
fully matured they send up a stately 
flower spike from the center of the 
crowu of leaves and then die. This is 
the case with the great majority, al- 
though there are a few that continue 
to flower year after year. They are 
almost all from Mexico, a few from 
South America and one or two from 
our extreme southwestern states. 

There is a widespread fallacy in con- 
nection with Agave Americana. It is 
popularly supposed that they live 100 
years and then flower and die, hence 
the familiar name. They will not 
flower till they have made their full 
growth, but that may be .50 years or 
TJJ years. We remember a pair of A. 
Americana that we had watched from 
infancy, one the plain green and one 
variegated. They were of immense 
weight, each weighing a ton or more 
with the large tub and soil. About 
1856 they both flowered together and 
sent their candelabra-like spikes 25 
feet in the air. It was a remarkable 
co-incidence that both showed flower 
the same season as no one knew their 
ages and the one who had taken them 
as suckers from the parent plant was 
long gone from his fleld of labor. 

Within 40 years there have been 
several distinct and beautiful species 
discovered in Mexico, some of which 
have not yet flowered and no knowl- 
edge of their flower is available. Most 
of the species are stemless, but not all, 
their fleshy leaves radiating symmet- 
rically from near the base of the plant. 
Nicholson's DictiOiUary of Gardening 
enumerates nearly one hundred spe- 
cies and then states there are many 
more which it is not worth while to de- 
scribe as there is only one specimen of 
each in cultivation. They vary in size 
from IS inches in height and the same 
in width to the majestic species of 10 
feet in diameter. 

The smaller species make beautiful 
plants for the greenhouse or for out- 
door decoration, and the large species 
are noble objects for the adornment 
of large grounds but get very heavy 
and awkward to handle when of any 
considerable size. Few plants will put 
up with the rough treatment that is 
often given the agave. Their thick, 
succulent leaves provide them with 
the means of resisting long periods of 
drought. 

The same general treatment will 
suit all the species. A well drained 
pot or tub, with good turfy loam; add 
leaf-mould or sand if heavy. They will 
stand the strongest sun out of doors 
and should receive plenty of water. 
In winter, if you wish merely to store 
them for next season's growth they 
will do very well in an.v cool house or 
even shed, but must not freeze, and 
when the temperature is low they will 
do without water for weeks. They 
are easily propagated by suckers. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



15 



which you have only to cut off and 
pot. 

The rarer species are too expensive 
for the commercial florist and in too 
little demand, and the larger species 
require too much lahor and room to be 
of any pi-ofit; they are best left in the 
hands of the private gardener. 

AGERATUM. 

Since the wane of the carpet bedding 
and the return of the popular flower- 
ing plants to flower garden favor the 
ageralum has been in constant demand. 
A. Mexicanum is the only species in 
which we are interested. By selec- 
tion many improvements have been 
made, a more spreading and dwarf 
plant has been produced as well as a 
variation in color. It is well to try 
the new varieties as they are dissemi- 
nated as they are very inexpensive 
and frequently great improvements 
on existing varieties. 

I have found that when propagated 
by cuttings for a few years a variety 
will often lose its character and grad- 
ually revert back to the original type. 
If I were asked what was the easiest 
of all plants to propagate I would say 
that the ageratum was absolutely the 
one, and so it is. Nothing but the 
most willful neglect will cause a batch 
of cuttings to fail. New varieties are, 
of course, raised from seed, which can 
be sown in January and the seedlings 
will flower freely by the following 
June. . ^. 

It is by cuttings that our varieties 
are perpetuated. Lift a few old plants 
and pot into 5 or 6-vnch pots before 
frost. Keep them cool and light till 
after Christmas, when you can begin 
propagating. It is well, however, not 
to propagate too early as the plants 
get stunted when not shifted on and 
it does not by any means pay to have 
this cheap bedding plant in larger 
than 3-inch, or at most 4-inch pots. 
The cuttings root freely with or with- 
out bottom heat and the plants grow 
rapidly in a temperature of 50 degrees. 
Their only enemy is red spider, which 
must be kept down by frequent sy- 
linging and the weekly fumigation. 

New varieties of both the blue and 
white are being constantly sent out. 
The dwarf, compact sorts are the most 
valuable. The variegated variety of 
Mexicanum is of little value. 

ALLAMANDA. 

Few plants bring back childhood's 
days more vivdly than the showy al- 
lamanda. Though not a commercial 
florist's flower it hardly has a rival as 
a hot-house climber. The leaves are 
sharp-pointed, oblong, and come three 
or four in a whorl. The flowers are 
funnel shaped, 3 to 5 inches across 
and rich yellow. Allamandas are usu- 
ally seen trained near the roof where 
they do well and add greatly to the 
beauty of the house. They are also 
grown as specimens trained to a bal- 
loon-shaped or flat wire frame 3 or 4 
feet high. In a competition for a 
number of flowering stove and green- 



house plants in any horticultural exhi- 
bition in Europe the allamanda would 
be sure to be one. The only use the 
florist could make of the flowers, rich 
and fine as they are, would be to take 
sprays of the vine covered with 
flowers for the decoration of mirrors 
or chandeliers. For an elaborate 
golden wedding they would be a glori- 
ous acquisition. 

Plants covering a large roof space 
would need a tub, and I have seen 
them planted in the border at the end 
of the house. A turfy loam with a 
sixth of cow manure, adding a tenth of 
charcoal to the compost, suits them 
well. They are from Equatorial Amer- 
ica, so you will know what they want 
in temperature. Most of the species 
flower in June and July, but Schottii. 
one of the finest, flowers in August and 
September. They are little troubled 
by insects of any kind, syringing and 
fumigating keeping them clean with- 
out any trouble. In the spring and 
summer they want lots of water; in 
the darker winter months much less. 
In our hot summers they require 
shade from the brightest sun, but only 



or so of the last year's growth will 
root easily in our ordinary propagat- 
ing benches where there is a little bot- 
tom heat, making each cutting with 
two or three eyes. Remember they are 
from the tropics and should not be 
exposed to a lower temperature than 
60 degrees at any time of the year. 

Of the several species and hybrids 
the following can be selected as the 
best: A. Chelsonii, yellow, large, 
flowers in July; A. grandiflora, pale 
yellow, large, flowers in June; A. no- 
bilis, bright yellow, large, flowers in 
July; A. Schottii, yellow, throat 
striped with brown, very free bloomer, 
the best known and best for all pur- 
poses. 

ALOCASIA. 

These beautiful stove plants are 
grown entirely for the beauty of their 
leaves. They delight in our hot sum- 
mers under glass and must not be al- 
lowed to go below 60 degrees in the 
winter months. They require shade 
in the bright days of spring and sum- 
mer, and where the house is heavily 
shaded they will be greatly beneflted 




Alocasia Metallica. 



enough to keen them from burning. 
They like the light, which they get in 
abundance when trained to the roof. 
In the late winter months, before they 
begin to grow, they should be pruned 
back as we do our hot-house grape 
vines, cutting back the previous year's 
growth to two or three eyes. If you 
wish to propagate them the last foot 



by a little fire heat at night. In 
shaded houses during rainy weather 
and cold nights, even in summer, 
there is a dampness and stagnation 
that is very uncongenial to most 
plants, and exotics in particular 
should have a little fire heat. 

The compost in which they delight is 
one-third fibrous peat or Jadoo, one- 



16 

third turfy loam in coarse lumps aud 
one-third chopped sphagnum, to which 
add some charcoal. Although the roots 
delight in moisture it must not be 
stagnant around them, and the pots 
should be filled within a tew inches of 
the rim with broken crocks. Keep the 
roots and the potting material well 
above the edge of the pot and cover 
the surface of the compost with live 
sphagnum, in which the young roots 
thrive. They must be given an abund- 
ance of water in summer, but much 
less in winter. It is not only the water 
they receive on the surface that bene- 
nts them, but -they require a humid, 
warm atmosphere. 

The best time to increase your stock 
of alocasias is in the spring by divid- 
ing the stems or rhizomes, which 
when first taken off and started 
should have a close, moist and warm 
temperature and be away from all 
draughts of air. A Wardian case on 
the greenhouse bench with some bot- 
tom heat is the ideal place. 

The leaves are large, from one to 
two feet in length. All are beautiful, 
varying in coloring and markings 
from the well known A. metallica or 
cuprea, a dark metallic bronze, to A. 
longiloba, green with silvery markings. 
Among the best species and hybrids 
are those above mentioned and A. hy- 
brida, A. Jenningsii, A. Johnstonii, A. 
Sedenii, A. Thibautiana. A. variegata. 
and many others, all beautiful plants 
for the private collection. 

ALOYSIA CITRIODORA. 

This universally liked plant is com- 
mercially known the world over as 
Lemon Verbena. It is classed as a de- 
ciduous shrub and is the sole repre- 
sentative of the genus. Where hardy 
I doubt whether it is quite deciduous. 
It makes a fine plant when planted 
against the wall or pillar in the green- 
house, but it is as a sweet scented 
plant for our gardens that we most 
prize it, and every mixed border, and 
every garden large or small has one or 
more. The florist finds this a most 
useful plant for cutting in the summer 
time, for what can be more welcome 
in a bunch of flowers than a few sprays 
of the sweet Lemon Verbena. 

Don't sell out clean in the spring. 
Save a dozen plants and shift them on, 
plunging them outside in pots in sum- 
mer. At the approach of frost bring 
them in and stand them under your 
lightest and coolest bench and give 
them only water enough to keep the 
wood from shrivelling. In early Feb- 
ruary we shake them out, shorten back 
the unripened and weak wood and 
start them going again in fresh soil 
and pots, with us a 4-inch, Placed in 
a temperature of 55 degrees, in a few 
weeks they are covered with young 
growths which are .iust the thing for 
cuttings. They root easily but not 
nearly so surely as many of the soft- 
wooded plants. I prefer the sand to 
be a little warmer than the house. 
Keep the sand well soaked, twice a day 
is not too often, and never let the cut- 
tings wilt from the sun or dryness. 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 

In April we shift them from a 2-inch 
to a 3-inch pot and plunge in a mild 
hot-bed, where by the middle of May, 
with one pinching, they will have made 
fine, bushy plants. They want lots of 
syringing to prevent red spider, and if 
the proper fumigation is regularly giv- 
en they will not be troubled with fly. 
A florist should always be supplied 
with them for they are usually difH- 
cult to procure when wanted. 

ALTERNANTHERA. 

It seems as though it would have 
been almost impossible to carry out 
the wonderful designs in carpet bed- 
ding had we not had these little plants 
to serve us. Carpet bedding came into 
its greatest popularity shortly after the 
introduction of the alternanthera, some 
30 years ago. It may be that their 
great fitness for that style of bedding 
helped to make it popular. Certain it 
is that alternantheras owe their pop- 
ularity to carpet bedding. Nothing 
troubles the alternanthera but cold 
weather. They are all tropical plants, 
growing freely in our warm summer 
months but only just existing in the 
greenhouse during winter in a tem- 
perature of 60 degrees. 

They are propagated by divisions or 
cuttings. In the former method the 
plants are lifted from the beds after 
the first slight frost, and after their 
tops are shortened and trimmed up 
they are stored away in a few inches 
of soil in flats. After the first good 
watering they are best kept rather dry 
till the following April, when they can 
be torn to pieces and either potted 
singly or again planted in fiats and 
started growing in a warm, light house, 
or what is better, a hot-bed. Where 
very large quantities are needed the 
old plants are generally depended up- 
on. Where only a few thousand are 
needed I prefer the cuttings. 

Prepare some flats two inches deep 
and any convenient size, in which have 
one inch of light soil and one inch ot 
sand. Aljout the middle of August 
take off the cuttings from the plants 
outside and put them thickly in the 
sand. In a few days in the greenhouse 
they will be rooted and can be kept 
on any bench or stood out of doors till 
cold weather arrives. In the flats they 
will winter well and are little trouble. 
Keep them rather dry during the dark 
days and away from cold and damp. 
When potted off in April and placed in 
a hot-l)ed they make splendid little 
plants by bedding out time. They root 
and thrive like the proverbial "weed" 
if kept warm. 

There is no trouble in wintering any 
of them except the one that is the most 
valuable, which is known in many 
places as A. paronychioirtes major, but 
which 1 feel sure is A. paronychioides 
magniflca, which is much the highest 
colored of all. In elaborate bedding 
room is found for most of the culti- 
vated varieties. If you cannot give 
them a temperature of GO degrees dur- 
ing winter the next best thing is to 
give the flats a light, dry position and 



be sparing of water till the warm days 
of spring arrive. 

The most useful are A. paronychio- 
ides magniflca. almost scarlet when 
well colored, but not such a robust 
grower as the others: A. versicolor, 
bright rosy pink and bronze green; 
A. spathulata. reddish pink and brown 
shaded with bronze and green; A. am- 
abilis, rose color and orange; A. am- 
oena, orange red and purple; A. tri- 
color, dark green edge, center of leaf 
rose striped with purple veins and or- 
ange; A. paronychioides aurea nana, 
the best of the yellow or golden leaved 
sorts. 

In very warm rainy seasons they 
grow so fast that the beautiful mark- 
ings of the leaves do not show at their 
best. They should never be planted 
in a very rich soil. Their great adapt- 
ability for bedding is because they can 
be sheared to any sharp line and can 
be kept very dwarf. 

AMARANTHUS. 

Strong gi'owing tropica! annuals 
having feathery spikes of flowers and 
highly colored leaves. They are very 
suitable for the mixed border or for 
large sub-tropical beds. It is on ac- 
count of the showy markings of the 
leaves that they are mostly grown. 
They should not be planted out till 
settled warm weather, with us the 1st 
of June, but they grow very luxuri- 
antly in the warm months. They re- 
quire deep, rich soil to obtain the best 
results. 

Sow the seed the latter part of 
March in pans in a warm house and 
transplant when large enough to 
handle into flats, placing them two 
or three inches apart. The moist heat 
of a hot-bed suits them finely. If ex- 
tra good plants are required they can 
be shifted from the flats singly into 
3-inch pots, and nowhere will they do 
so well as in a hot-bed. 

A few of the handsomest are: bi- 
color, foliage green and yellow; hypo- 
chondriacus, large spikes of crimson 
flowers; salicifolius, narrow drooping 
leaves, orange, carmine and bronze; 
sanguineus, blood red leaves: tricolor, 
a very handsome species with carmine 
and yellow leaves. 

AMARYLLIS. 

The Belladona Lily is the true ama- 
ryllis and the fine plants generally 
known as amaryllis are really hippe- 
astrums. Several other genera are 
closely allied and as their cultivation 
is the same the cultural directions 
here given will include hippeastrum, 
crinum and vallota. They are bulbous 
but not herbaceous although resting 
partially during winter. 

They seed freely and if sown at once 
and the young plants grown on in a 
warm house and rested slightly dur- 
ing the winter, will flower the third 
year. They can also be increased by 
the offsets from the old bulbs. 

If you obtain the dormant bulbs 
start them in a little bottom heat, 
keeping the bulb near the surface of 
the soil. They flower when making 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



J7 



their first leaves but must not be put 
away and neglected or stood under the 
bench after the flower is faded for it 
is then that the plant makes its prin- 
cipal growth and stores up strength 
for future flowering. Keep them 
watered and growing till the winter 
months, but as they are not decidu- 
ous, or only partially so. they are best 
in a light, cool house and with an oc- 
casional watering. After they require 
a 7 or 8-inch pot they need not be 
shifted but can be resurfaced annu- 
ally. They like a rich, rather heavy 
loam. Few, if any, of our greenhouse 
pests trouble them. Being all tropi- 
cal, when growing they must have a 
light, warm house and plenty of 
moisture. 

The amaryllis flowers in .Inly and 
August, the hippeastrum in April and 
May. Though hardly a florist's plant 
they are gorgeous flowers for the con- 
servatory. 

AMPELOPSIS. 

Although more of a nurseryman's 
than a florist's plant there is one 
species of this most useful genus of 
hardy climbers that enters largely in- 
to the plant man's trade. We all 
handle, and some of us largely, that 
unrivalled climber, A. tricuspidata, so 
universally known as A. Veitchii. It 
has many aliases among our patrons, 
being called "Japan ivy, " "Boston 
ivy," etc. For the covering of un- 
sightly walls, stone or brick barns, 
and on the most costly mansions if 
the owner chooses, it has no equal, 
needing no support of an.v kind. When 
first climbing in its early years it as- 
sumes most picturesque forms, but 
whether it is good taste to cover 
densely the whole front of a fine house 
is a matter that must be left to the 
taste of the owner. 

Though making but a moderate 
growth the first two years it is. when 
well established, a most vigorous 
grower and it climbs to the roofs of 
our loftiest houses. There is a fallacy 
about its growing only on the south 
and east aspects, and in one city I 
heard it stated that it did best on the 
north side. It will grow on every side 
of a house, north or south, but should 
be given a bushel of good soil for a 
start, and in exposed places some lit- 
ter over the roots the first year. Mil- 
lions have been planted in the resi- 
dence portions of our cities and mil- 
lions more are yet to be planted as 
our cities spread out. It is not a suit- 
aide climber for a frame house for the 
house must be painted and that set- 
tles the vine unless you are content 
to cut it down and begin again from 
the ground. 

Propagation is by cuttings or seed. 
The cuttings can be put into flats and 
should be made in September with 
two or three eyes of the current year's 
growth. A light loam is a good com- 
post for the cuttings and a shaded 
bench in the greenhouse is the place. 
Or. the cuttings can be put at once 
into the ground in a cold-frame. They 
should be wintered — whether propa- 



gated inside or out — in a cold-frame 
and planted out the following spring. 
We have raised them from seed for a 
number of years and think it the 
cheapest method. Sow the seed in 
March thickly in flats, covering a 
quarter inch deep. In May or .lune 
pot them off into 2-iuch pots and 
when there are benches to spare shift 
into a 4-inch and grow them on all 
summer inside, giving them an 18- 
inch stake. In September stand them 
outside and let them get the fall 
frosts slowly. I mention this because 
I have seen them kept indoors till Oc- 
tober, and then when put out get a 
severe frost that would kill them to 
the ground. A deep frame with the 
pots plunged is the best place to win- 
ter them, removing the glass covering 



Jamaica and Queen pine-apples, some 
4.5 years ago, when fruits of either 
of those fine varieties were worth 
from $5.00 to $10.00 each. That was 
in the days when the foreign or trop- 
ical grown fruit was little larger than 
a base ball and about as tough. Since 
then the cultivation of the pine-apple 
has been skillfully and systematically 
taken up in several tropical countries, 
perhaps to the greatest perfection in 
the Azores, and the fruit being almost 
equal, both in appearance and flavor, 
to those grown under glass, the indus- 
try is no longer profitable and would 
be out of the province of this chapter 
if it were. 

The propagation of the pine-apple 
is by suckers which start freely from 
the base of the stem. They should 
be cleaned off and a small portion cut 




Variegated Pineapple. 

(.•\nanas Sativa \'ariegata.) 



in April so that they are in no way 
forceil. These plants a year old from 
the seed will be most satisfactory to 
sell to your customers, and being from 
pots there is no risk of losing one. 
Some readers may say you can buy 
plants cheaper than you can raise 
them. By the above method you will 
find Ampelopsis Veitchii a more profit- 
able plant than many others you grow. 
It seems to thrive in any soil when 
once established. When growing it 
young we use a heavy loam. 

ANANAS. 

The beautiful variegated pine-apple 
is the variegated form of the pine-ap- 
ple that is grown for its fruit. Ananas 
sativa. When well grown there is no 
variegated ornamental plant surpass- 
ing it in beauty. 

Pine-apples, when well grown, can 
l)e fruited in two yeais. They were 
once a great feature of British gar- 
dens. The writer has helped or 
watched the packing of tons of Black 



square off and put into sandy soil in 
3-inch pots and plunged into a bed 
where the heat of the house is not less 
than 60 degrees and the sand or 
plunging material is 80 degrees. Keep 
only moderately moist till rooted. The 
suckers appear at the time the plant 
is fruiting, and the larger the suckers 
when severed from the old plant, the 
better. 

The soil best suited for them is a 
good, loamy sod, not too finely broken 
up. If heavy add sand with a fifth or 
sixth of leaf mould and rotted cow 
manure in equal parts. They should 
at all times be firmly potted. To 
hasten their growth they should be 
plunged during summer in a light 
house and shaded only during the very 
hottest hours of the day. If the g'.ass 
is plate and theie is no danger of 
liurning no shade is needed. Plenty 
of water should be given in summer 
Init the plants should be kept rather 
on the dry side in winter. By all 
means avoid a stagnant, wet soil. 

This plant is beautiful at all stages 



18 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



of its gi-owtli, and is particularly at- 
tractive when in flower and fruit, the 
latter lasting on the plant several 
weeks. 

To those growing them largely for 
the trade I might mention an item in 
their culture which may or may not 
he in practice. As it was an excellent 
plan to produce a plant of the green 
foliaged fruiting varieties it cannot 
but be good with the variegated vari- 
ety. It was to plant out the young 
rooted suckers from the 3 or 4-inch 
pots into G inches of good compost un- 
der glass during summer and lift them 
in the fall or following spring. Where 
some bottom heat can be given to the 



raking the surface a few times, stamp- 
ing down with the rake. 

The commercial man who wants 
rows of these annuals should always 
sow in drills. For small seeds the 
corner of the rake will make a drill 
Vz to % of an inch deep. After sow- 
ing, hold the rake in a perpendicular 
position and as you walk along beat 
the surface of the drill: that will 
sutflciently cover the drill. If your 
ground does not bake after a water- 
ing you can water the drills. If it 
does bake, as is usually the case, it is 
better to trust to the spring rains. 

When any of these summer annuals 




Antluiriuin Flowers. 



A. Crysta 



Anthuriums. 



1)ed they will make as much growth 
in six months planted out as they will 
in twelve months grown in pots. 

ANGRAECUM. 

See Orchids. 

ANNUALS. 

The title "Hardy annual" as applied 
to many of our summer flowering 
plants is a misnomer, for those that 
can be sown out of doors and come to 
perfection before frost touches them 
are very few. Many plants that are 
perennials we treat as annuals, grow- 
ing them but one year and finding it 
most profitable to raise a new crop 
from seed each year; primula, cinera- 
ria, etc. 

The few annuals that can be sown 
out of doors, such as candytuft, mig- 
nonette, poppy, eschscholtzia, etc., 
should be sown as soon as possible 
after the ground is dry enough to 
work. For the ornamental garden 
these are best sown in small patches, 
say eighteen inches across. Level and 
make fine the surface of the soil, sow 
thinly and cover the seed by finely 



are grown for cutting flowers from, 
always sow in drills 15 or IS inches 
apart so the hand cultivator can be 
used, as it saves much labor. 

For the cultivation of all annuals 
needing the help of the greenhouse or 
frame, see Aster. 

ANTHERICUM. 

The variegated species, A, varie- 
gatum, is a very useful plant, used 
largely for the margins of beds, also 
for veranda boxes and vases. It stands 
our hottest suns, and is as well a very 
desirable plant for the window. 

Plants lifted from the ground and 
potted can during the winter be di- 
vided. Or a few plants lifted and al- 
lowed to send up their long flower 
spikes will supply any number of 
young plants which spring from the 
flower stalk and these can be taken off 
and put in the sand, soon rooting 
and making plants. It is a very easy 
])lant to grow in any soil, but to have 
good, useful plants in spring it should 
have a light house, pot room and 
plenty of water. 



ANTHURIUM. 

Remarkable plants that are grown 
for their curious flowers as well as 
their fine leaves. The flowers are 
often used in combination with or- 
chids. Their cultivation is very simi- 
lar to that of many of the orchids. 
Whoever grows a few of the lat- 
ter should grow A. Scherzerianum. 
The flowers of this well known species 
last in perfection two or three months. 

They are from the West Indies, 
Central and South America. A moist, 
hot atmosphere suits them and they 
require an abundance of water in 
spring and summer. In the dark, cold 
weather less water is needed but the 
temperature should not go below 65 
degrees at any time. The compost 
for potting them should be about like 
that suited to our terrestrial orchids: 
equal parts of peat, turfy loam, fresh 
sphagnum, broken charcoal (not 
powdered) or broken crocks. Fill the 
pot one-third full of clean broken 
crocks and then distribute the roots 
carefully among the compost, keeping 
the crown of the plant two or three 
inches above the rim of the pot, and 
cover the surface with fresh sphag- 
num. 

There are a great number of species, 
all beautiful and curious and worthy 
of a place in every collection of hot- 
house plants. A. Andreanum and A. 
Scherzerianum are grand sorts for 
cutting. 

ANTIRRHINUM. 

Some very useful strains of the com- 
mon A. majus (the Snapdragon) are 
now used for forcing. To get them 
true to color they must be propagated 
liy cuttings. Plants struck early in 
the spring and kept from flowering 
can be planted out in September on 
the bench in 5 or 6 inches of good 
soil. A temperature of 50 degrees at 
night will suit them very well. They 
continue to bloom throughout the 
winter, and as a novelty the flowers 
are valuable. The white and yellow 
colors are most in demand. 

As a border plant, see Hardy Peren- 
nials. 

APONOGETON DISTACHYON. 

A few flowers of this beautiful plant 
occasionally appear as a novelty in the 
windows of some of the best flower 
stores. It is certainly a novelty, too, 
in the cut flower market, though far 
otherwise as a cultivated plant, having 
been in cultivation for more than 100 
years. It was introduced to Europe 
from the Cape of Good Hope in the lat- 
ter part of the last century and has 
become so completely naturalized 
upon some lakes and streams as to ap- 
pear like a native so great is its lux- 
uriance. 

Doubtless much might be don© with 
it in American waters in southern lat- 
itudes, but the present object of this 
note is to advise those who have the 
facilities to give it a little attention 
under glass for winter flowering, and 
small indeed are its cultural needs. 
Grown under glass it would be an 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



19 




Aponogcton Distachon. 



ever-blooming plant as in outside wa- 
ters it flowers persistently till forced 
to a reluctant rest by the freezing of 
the water. 

I have gathered flowers of it in mid- 
winter when that season has been un- 
usually mild, so that no forcing condi- 
tions are necessary under glass to en- 
sure flowers in abundance during win- 
ter months. Tanks, tubs, or any re- 
ceptacle of sufficient size and conve- 
nience could be utilized for its cultiva- 
tion, placing in the bottom of 
them about a foot of compost 
consisting of loam and well rotted 
cow manure in proportions of about 3 
to 1. The temperatures at which rose 
and carnation houses are kept will 
suit admirably and like these the apo- 
nogeton will enjoy all the sun it can 
get. As far as my observation goes of 
the plant under natural conditions it 
always appeared to thrive best and 
flower most abundantly along the mar- 
gins of running water or in lakes 
through which there was a constant 
flow. This would indicate that it 
likes a change of water more or less 
frequently, conditions that can be met 
under cultivation by turning the hose 
into its tank or tub occasionally. The 
plant has a fleshy tuberous root, broad 
and flat at its apex, narrowing to al- 
most a point at its base and from the 
crown of this tuber it sends out long 
roots in the soil surrounding, whilst 



the leaves and flower stalks find their 
way to the surface, each stalk ter- 
minated by an oblong leaf that floats 
on the water. 

The flowers are borne on a forked 
spike (hence the name distachyon, 
meaning two spiked), are small and 
inconspicuous in themselves, but they 
are disposed in clusters in the axils of 
large showy white bracts. These bracts 
give the spike its color attractiveness, 
but the flowers have also a welcome 
charm in that they possess a delight- 
ful fragrance so sweet as to have earn- 
ed for the plant the name "Water 
Hawthorn." The Cape Pond weed is 
another popular name for it and it 
matters not which is used, either being 
greatly preferable to its botanical cog- 
nomen, and should be used by those 
who would popularize the plant and 
sell its flowers. 

When once the plant is strongly es- 
tablished it spreads freely by root in- 
crease and also reproduces itself from 
its own self-sown seed. Dry roots are 
also obtainable at times, these being 
imported from the Cape. The beginner 
with dry roots, however, must exer- 
cise caution in starting his plants, oth- 
erwise he may lose the lot. When the 
dormant tubers are potted up they are 
dry and more or less shrivelled. If 
then introduced to aquatic conditions 
there is a risk of the root tissues 
swelling too rapidly and rotting in 



consequence. It is l)etlPr for a start 
to treat them as ordinary plants, 
planting the tuber, with its crown 
just covered in a pot of soil. It will 
then absorb moisture gradually, swell 
normally and when top growth is visi- 
ble and well under way the plants 
may be immersed with safety. When 
new plantations are being established 
with divisions from growing plants 
no such precautions are necessary; 
these can be planted direct into other 
tubs or tanks. 

AQUATICS. 

These beautiful plants that are 
grown in the water garden are receiv- 
ing more attention every year. Those 
who have never seen the two or three 
acres of lily ponds at Riverton. N. J., 
on the banks of the Delaware, in the 
nurseries of the Henry A. Dreer Com- 
pany, can have no idea of the beauty 
of the nymphaea. A few plants of dif- 
ferent varieties give no idea of their 
beauty as compared with scores of lit- 
tle oblong ponds separated by fine 
walks of grass and each filled with one 
species or variety of nymphaea. 

In a botanical garden or parii cr 
private grounds the pond of aquatics 
will always attract the visitors and re- 
ceive general attention. Not, I believe, 
wholly on account of their rarity, but 
largely for their beauty. And what 
can be more beautiful and refreshing 
than the broad leaves so placidly rest- 
ing on the surface and the pool ligJited 
up with the exquisite forms and colors 
of the flowers? Nearly every shade is 
there, but in no gaudy or blending 
colors. The yellows and pinks .-md 
blues and whites are of the purest and 
most pleasing shades. When the day 
flowering species want to close their 
petals (we will suppose in sleep), the 
evening and night flowering ones take 
their place. 

Nymphaea. 

Where and when the nymphaeas can 
be used as cut flower« for a vase or 
table decoration nothing can surpass 
them in elegance. The day flowering 
species are, however, available for use 
only in the day time, unless some 
trouble is gone to. Prof. J. F. Cowell 
of our Buffalo Botanical Garden, in 
forms me that he is aware of a method 
liy which the beautiful day flowering 
N. zanzibarensis and its varieties can 
be utilized for evening decoration. It 
may not be generally known, but has 
been thoroughly tested. Cut the flow- 
ers in the morning, when at their very 
best, and put the stems at once in ice 
water. This seems to arrest their 
growth and prevent change either way. 
To use a rather awkward expression, it 
paralyzes them, and providing you 
keep the temperature close to the 
freezing point, the flowers will remain 
open throughout the night. The first 
experiment was made by scooping out 
a hole in a block of ice, within which 
the stems of the lilies were put with 
water, and there they remained till 12 
o'clock at night, fully expanded. 

To those who intend investing large- 



20 



T'^E FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



ly in aquatics, especially iiymphaeas. 
the handsome work hy Mr. William 
Tricker, "The Water Garden." will be 
found of great assistance. 

New hybrid nymphaeas are being 
constantly sint cut. all of great beauty, 
but those described here will be found, 
both iu variety of color and in freedom 
of bloom, to be among the best. 

The same general treatment will suit 
all. The hardy species can be left out 
all winter and will take care of them- 
selves. The tender ones, among which 
are some of the finest, must be lifted 
after the first frost and their roots re- 
moved to the greenhouse. The roots 
can be placed iu hoxes or pois and 
covered with loam, which should be 
kept continually moist: in fact, as near 
the consistency of mud as possible, f.s 
that would be their natural state. The 
roots of all the nymphaeas are tube- 
rous and they do not easily perish, 
providing they are not frozen or al- 
lowed to get too dry. 

The nymphaeas are easily raised 
from seed, which can be sown in Janu- 
ary or February in 4-inch pots of loam, 
keeping the pots a few inches under 
vs'ater in a tank in the greenhouse. 

The hardy species can be placed in 
the pond by the middle of May, the 
tender kinds two weeks later. Those 
who have not the conveniences for 
raising the young plants can obtain 
strong plants for the specialist at a 
moderate cost. If the pond or pool has 
a naturally good soil at the bottom, 
less preparation is needed; but if, as 
is .often the case, the pool or tank is 
made of cement or puddled with clay, 
then eighteen inches of rich soil must 
be placed over the clay or cement. 
Three parts good loam and one part 
cow manure will be a good compost, 
and you even can with advantage add 
a pound of Ijone meal to every bushel 
of compost. They are sometimes grown 
in large boxes, which are placed in the 
tank, but this is not the way to get 
fine flowers. You would not think of 
growing cannas in pots to produce the 
finest foliage and flowers, and growing 
nymphaeas in tubs or boxes is as un- 
desirable. 

The water need not be over eighteen 
inches to two feet above the soil, but 
the hardy species which are to remain 
out all winter should be sufficiently be- 
low the surface so that the soil does 
not freeze. A foot or two of ice can 
be above the plant, but the soil should 
not freeze. You will find that many of 
the hardy kinds seed themselves, and 
you will have an abundance of stock. 
No trees or shade of any kind should 
be allowed, as the nymphaeas delight 
in the broad sun. Finally, the secret 
of growing flue plants with an abun- 
dance of fine flowers is a good depth 
of loam, to which has been added a 
liberal allowance of animal manure. 

Those enumerated below are among 
the finest: 

N. zanzibarensis: Purple, day flow- 
ering, ten inches in diameter. 

N. zanzibarensis rosea: Rose color, 
day flowering, ten inches in diameter. 



N. zanzibarensis gigantea: Blue, day 
flowering, twelve inches in diameter. 

N. Devoniensis: Rosy red. night 
blooming, eight inches in diameter. 

Of the hardy nymphaeas, among the 
most useful are: 

N, alba candidissima: White. 

N. Laydekeri rosea: Beautiful rose. 

N. Marliacea chromatella; Yellow, 
very hardy and free flowering, 

N. Marliacea rosea: Very fine pink. 

N. odorata: White, slightly tinted, 
very fragrant, 

N. odorata rosea: Beautiful rose; 
the Cape Cod pink water lily. 

N. tuberosa: Our common western 
white water lily. 

N. tuberosa rosea: A fine form; one 
of the best of all. and fragrant. 

Nelumbium. 

This stately aquatic is now general- 
ly known and largely grown. N. spe- 
ciosum, often called the Egyptian Lo- 
tus, will do in any pond where the 
roots do not freeze and has taken pos- 
session of some of the smaller lakes of 
Indiana. The large peltate leaves rise 
above the surface of the water, and the 
beautiful rosy pink flowers are borne 
on long stalks above the leaves. They 
have the appearance of very large 
double tulips. 

The plants need the same general 
treatment as the hardy nymphaeas. 
and the compost can not be made too 
rich. One authority says they like to 
root into a stiff clay. If the bottom 
of your tank or pond is out of reach of 
frost, leave them there all winter. If 
not, lift the roots and keep in moist 
soil till spring. 

There are now several varieties of N. 
speciosum. N. luteum is a native of 
our southern states and has very large 
yellow flowers. 

Othzr Aquatics. 

To accompany the nymphaeas and 
nelumbiums in the artificial lake or 
water garden, and of smaller growth, 
you can have the following: 

Eichhornia crassipes major: Often 
called the Water Hyacinth. They 
spread rapidly and float without the 
roots being in any soil. Some of them 
must be removed to tubs of water in 
the greenhouse during winter to fur- 
nish a supply for the following season. 
This curious little auuatic is also 
known as Pontederia. 

Limnanthemum: In appearance a 
miniature water lily with a pretty 
white flower. 

Limnocharis Huiuboldtii: Yellow, 
l)oppy-like flowers. Good tor the mar- 
gins of ponds, but inclined to become a 
weed. 

Papyrus (or Cyperus) alternifolius: 
This is well known and much culti- 
vated in our greenhouses. It also 
makes a good aquatic for small ponds. 

Papyrus antiquorum: The papyrus 
of the ancients, from which they made 
their writing paper. It is sometimes 
called the Egyptian bulrush. It has 
long, straight stems growing seven or 
eight feet high and is very striking in 



appearance. Both this and alternifo- 
lius must be removed to the green- 
house before danger of frost. 

Acorus japonicus: The variegated 
sweet flag. 

Pontederia peltandra virginica: 
Greenish, calla-like flowers; hardy. 

Calla palustris: A native, hardy 
plant. 

Perhaps none of the above is of com- 
mercial value, except the nymphaeas, 
but if asked to stock a lily pond those 
noted will be foimd to be among the 
best, easily obtainable and good, free 
growers. 

ARAUCARIA. 

Of this noble genus of conifers A. 
excelsa is the only one of commercial 
value to us. A. imbricata is a hardy 
tree in" England and when 20 to 30 
feet high, with branches sweeping the 
grass, its symmetry is matchless. It 
is not. however, hardy here and does 
not make a useful plant for the green- 
house. 

A. excelsa is called the Norfolk Is- 
land Pine, being a native of that far- 
away island. It will endure a very 
cool temperature, but not freezing. 
The plants are imported in large quan- 
tities from Europe. When ordering 
see that you are promised plants from 
cuttings. They are readily raised from 
seed but never make as fine plants as 
those from cuttings, the lower branch- 
es being always shorter and weaker, 
spoiling the symmetry of the plant. 
They are propagated from the leading 
shoots of the tops and branches in- 
serted in sand, kept moderately moist, 
and covered with a hand-glass or 
frame till rooted. 

The plants usually arrive in this 
country in excellent order, soon re- 
covering from the journey and start- 
ing to grow. I have had the nest suc- 
cess importing in the spring, the 
plants reaching here in May. Yon can 
then grow them on during summer and 
have well established plants for winter 
trade. Any good, fresh loam lightened 
up with a fifth or sixth of leaf-mould 
or very rotten manure will suit the 
araucaria. They will thrive during 
summer out of doors in the broad sun, 
but will lose color, and are best under 
glass with a slight shade and all the 
ventilation that you can give them. 
They want a uniform and moderate 
amount of water the year around. In 
the winter months 50 degrees is suffi- 
ciently warm. 

The araucaria is not only the most 
graceful small tree we have but is 
very satisfactory for house culture 
when given a light window. Your 
customers should be told to keep them 
as light and cool as possible. 

The forms of A. excelsa known as 
glauca and compacta are more ex- 
pensive but are improvements on the 
type. 

ARDISIA. 

Dwarf, hard-wooded trees that 
flower and fruit when quite small; 
the best of the berried plants, surpas- 
sing the solanums, being more com- 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



21 




ATaucaria Excelsa. 



pact, with better colored leaves, and 
densely covered with their berries. 

A. crenulata is the best known and 
most useful. They can be propagated 
by cuttings of the half-ripened wood 
in April and May, but are more easily 
raised from seed. Sow the seed as 
soon as ripe in a temperature of 60 
degrees. Be careful in transplanting 
into pots not to let the plants wilt 
from drought or sun. Grow them on 
in a light house and shift as they re- 
quire it. The following spring they 
can be given their flowering, or rath- 
er fruiting, pot. and plunge on a light 
bench in the greenhouse. 

.June is the flowering time. When 
the fruit is set they can be plunged 
out of doors in the summer months. 
A temperature of 50 degrees at night 
will suit them very well during winter 
and the berries will last longer than 
if kept in a warmer house. When 
growing they want a warm, moist 
heat. They are easily kept shapely by 
pruning before they make their growth 
in the spring. 

They are particularly valuable as 
ornamental plants because the pretty 
red berries are at their best in the 
winter months and small plants from 



one to two feet, are the most useful. 
Some growers put the young plants 
into the open ground from the 2-inch 
pots in June, and they make larger 
plants than those kept in pots. 

ARISTOLOCHIA. 

Nearly all hot-house climbers, seve- 
ral of them having most curious and 
remarkable flowers. They are best 
planted out in the houses where they 
grow freely. They are. however, of lit- 
tle value commercially, except the 
hardy species, A. Sipho, the familiar 
"Dutchman's Pipe," which is one of 
the handsomest of vines. For cover- 
ing a veranda, summer house or trel- 
lis it is admirably suited. Its peculiar- 
ly formed little flower, from which 
it takes its familiar name, is incon- 
spicuous, being overshadowed by its 
large leaves. 

You are constantly asked for a good 
hardy vine. Few plants are better 
than Aristolochia Sipho. It needs some 
support to twine and twist around. It 
is easily propagated from cuttings but 
if you are not in the nursery business 
you had better leave that to the nur- 
seryman, who will supply you with 



strong plants at a price that will en- 
able you to make a good profit. 

A. Sipho thrives in any good garden 
soil. As a curiosity A. gigas is the 
most remarkable but it is not hand- 
some and has anything but a pleasing 
fragrance. 

ASPARAGUS. 

Of this genus there ai-e three or four 
species that are very useful and orna- 
mental plants. The one having the 
greatest commercial value is A. plu- 
mosus. There seems to be some con- 
fusion about the name of this species, 
or there are two varieties. English 
catalogues make a distinction and call 
one variety A. plumosus nanus. With 
us the one that was actually dwarf has 
been lost track of and the one that 
grows twenty feet high is still called 
nanus. This is evidently a misnomer. 

Seed can be sown at any time. Sow 
in flats and cover with an eighth of 
an inch of leaf-mould or sifted Jadoo 
and keep on a bench where the heat 
is not less than 60 degrees at night. It 
is well to be particular as to the 
source from which you get the seed. 
Imported seed frequently germinates 
poorly, but the home grown seed 
comes freely. We pot the seedlings 
into 2-inch pots, and if intended to 
plant in a permanent bed we first 
shift again into a 4-inch. A good, 
warm house suits it when young, but 
not a close, heavily shaded one. 

An asparagus bed for the produc- 
tion of long strings should be on the 
ground. My own experience has given 
me a lesson on this point, and to use 
the words of Mr. W. H. Elliott, 
Brighton, Mass., our largest grower of 
this asparagus, "It should never be 
divorced from mother earth." One foot 
of soil on the floor of a lofty house 
will grow it for many years. Like all 
its family it flourishes best in rich 
soil: a good, heavy loam with a fourth 
or flfth of cow manure is the best 
compost for it, and in addition put a 
good dressing on the surface of the 
bed every midsummeff-. Although the 
same bed will last indefinitely I think 
it more profitable to renew the bed 
every thre'e or four years. The roof 
of the house should be at least ten 
feet above the surface of the bed or 
you will not get the full benefit of the 
growth. Specialists like Mr. Elliott 
have houses twice that height. 

It is not only the long strings that 
are used. The short sprays are in 
great demand for mixing with cut 
flowers, particularly bunches of roses. 
While many short sprays can be cut 
from the planted beds, many plants 
are grown on side benches in six 
inches of soil or in 6 or 8-inch pots 
with the view of producing sprays 
only. The plants will, if vigorous, 
throw up the long running shoots, but 
by nipping off the tops of the shoots 
when IS to 24 inches long the produc- 
tion of branchlets is stimulated. 

We have found small plants of A. 
plumosus very useful for fern dishes, 
outlasting any of the ferns. For this 
purpose the plants are best kept in 



22 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



3-inch pots, though for large arrange- 
ments of flowers and foliage bushy 
plants in 4-inch pots are most use- 
ful. 

A. tenuissimus needs precisely the 
same treatment as A. plumosus, but 
it Is not such a general favorite. Its 
very finely divided, graceful branch- 
lets are, however, preferred by some 
above A. plumosus. 

A. Sprengeri is a more recent intro- 
duction and conies from Abyssinia 
(the other species are from South 
Africa). It is a strong grower, form- 



little of the grace and fineness of plu- 
mosus and tenuissimus it is for cer- 
tain purposes their superior, and 
when the sprays are matured their 
lasting qualitie's are equal to the well 
known durability of plumosus. To 
grow good sprays (and it can be 
grown five or six feet, and perhaps 
longer) you should give it the middle 
of a house where the winter tempei^a- 
ture is 55 to 60 degrees. Plant fifteen 
inches apart in boxes as long as the 
width of the house between walks. 
Let the boxes be twelve inches wide 











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Asparagus Plumosus. 



ing a large clump of roots and crowns 
from which it sends out long, strong 
shoots covered on all sides with fine 
branchlets. In older plants there is an 
inclination to run up strong shoots 
which may climb, but the value and 
beauty of the plant is in the long, 
pendent growths. It is a strong feed- 
er and requires an abundance of water 
and will grow and keep its color in 
the full sun; only from our hottest 
suns should it receive any artificial 
shading. 

It is easily raised from seed which 
is be-st sown in early spring. By the 
following winter the plants will give 
fine sprays. For hanging baskets it 
has scarcely a rival, either for the 
conservatory, the veranda or parlor 
window. The magnificent baskets that 
remain in good condition while hang- 
ing for months in a florist's window 
are evidence of its great adaptability 
to unfavorable surroundings. Three 
small plants put in a 10-inch basket 
in July or August will make fine orna- 
mental baskets for winter, most use- 
ful for decoration or to sell at a good 
profit. While the Sprengeri lacks a 



and eight inches deep. Raise the 
boxes three feet from the ground by 
some convenient means and keep them 
three feet apart. This will allow the 
sprays plenty of room to develop with- 
out getting dirty from the sand or soil 
of a bench. Small, well grown-plants 
in 4-inch pots should be always in 
stock; for mantel decorations they are 
invaluable. 

None of our well known green- 
house pests trouble the asparagus if it 
is given plenty of syringing and water. 
A rather heavy loam with a liberal ad- 
dition of animal manure is all it 
wants. 

ASPIDISTRA. 

The species lurida and its variegat- 
ed form are known to every cultivator 
of plants. It will bear more gas, heat 
and dust than most any other plant 
we grow. They are invaluable for 
vases in the cities, not only on the 
streets in summer time but In the 
rooms in winter. No one can fail to 
grow an aspidistra, and a fine speci- 
men of either the green or the striped, 
with its leaves occasionally sponged, 



is a handsome object. It thrives in the 
most sunny and exposed places, or in 
the shade. The flowers are curious but 
of no value and in many cases pass 
unobserved for they are close to the 
ground at the base of the leaf. 

They are propagated entirely by di- 
vision, or rather by the young plants 
that spring from the sides of the older 
plants. Any good loam with the addi- 
tion of some rotten manure will grow 
them, and they should have plenty of 
water at all times. 

Old and familiar as this plant is 
there is never an over supply of it for 
it is not rapidly increased. It is now 
largely imported from Belgium and 
the plants are sold by the hundred 
leaves. 

ASPLENIUM. 

The spleenworts, as the asplenium 
genus has been termed (from the sup- 
posed medicinal value that ancient 
practitioners believed them to pos- 
sess), form one of the largest fern 
groups in cultivation, over 300 species 
having been described, though it is 
rather doubtful if this whole number Is 
at the present time in cultivation. 

As may be expected in so large a 
genus, the aspleniums are very widely 
distributed, and in consequence we find 
among them species requiring warm 
house treatment, others that need com- 
paratively little beat, and a few that 
are quite hardy in our northern and 
eastern states, there being more than 
half a dozen species that are native 
here. 

The subject of our illustration, A. 
bulbiferum, belongs to the second di- 
vision, or those that require only 
moderate heat, and though in com- 
merce for many years, is by no means 
so plentiful as its merits would jus- 
tify. A. bulbiferum is an evergreen 
fern from New Zealand, the home of 
many of our finest ferns, and has fine- 
ly divided fronds of nearly triangular 
outline, these fronds reaching a length 
of nearly two feet in a good specimen, 
and being nearly one foot in breadth at 
the widest part. The plant has a 
gracefully drooping habit, this being 
accentuated by the weight of the nu- 
merous tiny young plants that fre- 
quently form on the upper side of the 
fronds. 

This proliferous habit is found in 
several of the aspleniums, but is per- 
haps most marked in the species un- 
der consideration, the fronds often be- 
ing studded over with young plants 
that are just showing their first leaf. 
This peculiarity is often taken advan- 
tage of in the propagation of A. bul- 
biferum, a common method being to 
bend over these proliferous fronds and 
then peg them down on the surface ot 
a flat filled with light sandy soil, and 
the latter being kept moist soon in- 
duces the young plants to form roots, 
after which they may be readily de- 
tached from the parent frond. This 
operation is, of course, carried out in 
a shaded fern house, where the atmos- 
pheric conditions are favorable for the 
establishment of these young plants. 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



23 




Asparagus Sptengeti. 



The aspleniunis in general produce 
spores quite freely, and A. bulbiferum 
is no exception to the rule, but as the 
spores are somewhat slow in germina- 
tion, the process above described is 
probably more often used. No special 
treatment is called for in growing this 
fern, and young plants grow nicely in 
company with Adiantum cuneatum 
and Pteris serrulata, though possibly 
enjoying a little more shade than is 
absolutely necessary for those species. 

W. H. T. 

ASTER. 

A large genus, mostly hardy peren- 
nials, widely spread throughout the 
world. Many of them belong to North 
America and are the flowers of our 
iields, and of these many are worthy a 
place in the hardy garden. It is in the 
annual, the chinensis, section that we 
are interested. 

Of all our so-called hardy annuals 
the Aster takes the leading place. 
Most all of our customers want a few. 
They are planted in the mixed border, 
or occupy whole beds, and with the 
commercial florist who grows for cut 
flowers they are a leading article. To 
obtain a good strain and cultivate 
them well is a matter of great import- 
ance to many of us. From the middle 
of July till frost cuts them off they 
are a prominent feature in all our 
flower stores. 



Twenty years ago the raising of as- 
ter seed was left largely to the Conti- 
nental Europeans, but now-a-days as 
good a strain as exists can be obtain- 
ed here, and any of us who has the 
time and industry can save his own 
aster seed. The finest flowers of the 
purest colors should be marked and 
tied and allowed to get thoroughly 
ripe, when the stalks can be cut and 
put away in a cool, dry place and the 
seeds separated at your leisure. 

In the following directions for the 
raising of the young plants from the 
seed to planting time I have endeavor- 
ed to be explicit, as the same rules 
will apply to the raising of other an- 
nuals, such as stocks, zinnias, phlox, 
etc., and to which in their order I 
shall refer the reader to asters for di- 
rections for raising the young plants. 

The seed should be last year's crop; 
older seed may grow but it is not to 
be depended upon. Successive crops 
may be wanted, or some early flowers 
grown under glass, so sowing can be 
done from middle of February till 
middle of April and even later. Sow 
in pans, or, if large quantities are 
wanted, in flats two inches deep. Al- 
ways sow in colors. Fill the flats about 
even full with a light soil to which has 
been added a fourth of very rotten 
stable manure or thoroughly rotted 
leaf-mould, then press down with a 
piece of board or a block, which will 



carry the soil down half an inch be- 
low top of flat. Then with a fine rose 
or sprinkler on the watering pot (or, 
to save labor we have the sprinkler 
screwed on the end of a %-inch hose), 
give the soil in the flats a good water- 
ing, sufBeient to wet the soil through 
to the bottom. In half an hour sow 
the seed. Why we wait is to give the 
soil time to diy on the surface so that 
the seed can be lightly pressed into 
the soil with the board without the 
soil sticking to it. After we press the 
seed down we sift over the covering of 
soil. Whatever soil you use for cover- 
ing it should not be of a texture that 
will bake and form a crust. Loam and 
leaf-mould, half and half, will do for 
the majority of seeds. Sifted Jadoo Is 
also excellent but for asters a covering 
of the same material that the seeds are 
sown in is good enough. It should be 
finely and evenly sifted on. 

The question is often discussed as 
to how deep seeds should be covered. 
As a rule the covering may be about 
the thickness of the seed, but we are 
sure that many seeds sown outside are 
covered six times their depth. With 
the aster and similar seeds we sift the 
compost on till all the seeds are out of 
sight, and that is sufiicient. Another 
pressing down of the covering and the 
least amount of watering will do as 
you now have only that thin surface 
covering to wet. The thickness of the 
seed in the flat or pan must be entirely 
a matter of judgment, and since it is 
poor economy to sow very thickly to 
save space, as the seeds occupy a com- 
paratively small space. I would say 
that if with asters every seed had a lit- 
tle square of one-eighth of an inch to 
itself it would be about the ideal way 
of sowing it, but spacing that or any 
of our seeds is out of the question. 
You had better err, however, on the 
safe side and sow thinly, for if crowd- 
ed at the start it is a poor beginning 
for the little plant. 

Seed when first sown (contrary to 
plants, which it does not hurt to let 
get on the dry side a^d then copiously 
water) should be kept at an even de- 
gree of moisture with no extremes. 
The flats should be kept in a shady 
place till the seedlings are above 
ground when they should get the full 
light and not be allowed to draw up 
for want of light and ventilation. 
When well up less watchfulness is ne- 
cessary. A temperature of 55 degrees 
at night brings up the seed nicely and 
keeps the young plants growing till 
time to transplant into flats or into 
the hot-bed or bench. 

As soon as they have made the flrst 
character leaf they should be trans- 
planted. This is an operation that 
should be done very quickly but should 
be well done, which is more essential. 
While the little plant is held by the 
tips of the leaves by one hand, a rath- 
er blunt stick, held in the other, makes 
a hole in the soil into which let the 
roots of the plant hang down straight, 
and then with the stick press the soil 
around the roots. The plant should be 
so far in the ground that its seed 



24 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



leaves are only just, above the surface, 
lu pressing the soil around the plant 
don't make a point of squeezing the 
soil around the neck of the plant 
near the surface; that is not the 
particular place. Put the stick away 
down by the side so that the soil 
is firmly pressed around the roots; 
that is the most important operation. 
If watered at once, thoroughly water- 
ed, and shaded for a day or two from 
the brightest sun. the seedlings scarce- 
ly feel the transplanting. 

In the flats for plants we intend to 
sell to our customers middle and end 
of .June we put the plants about one 



the best and deepest soil we have, and 
if it is inclined to keep moist so much 
the better. Plant IS inches between 
rows ami 8 to 12 inches apart in the 
rows according to variety. When first 
planted out the small black jumping 
fly, often called the turnip fly or Hea. 
is very troublesome, eating holes in 
the leaves. A syringing with a solu- 
tion of paris green and extract of to- 
bacco will kill the fly. 

Violet growers who do not lift their 
plants till September can make good 
use of their benches by devoting them 
to asters during the summer. If plant- 
ed end of May they are out of the way 




Asplenium Bulbiferum. 



inch apart. If sown middle of March 
it is near the middle of April before 
they are established in the flats after 
being transplanted, anil they then go 
into a cold-frame, where in May the 
glass can be removed. If very large 
quantities are handled they can be 
transplanted at once into a cold-frame 
if the soil is dry and warm. If you 
have no greenhouse the whole opera- 
tion can be done by the help of a hot- 
bed. 

When extra early asters are wanted 
they can be taken from the flats in 
which they were transplanted and put 
into 2y2-inch pots. In this way they 
will transplant with safety to the open 
ground. A great many asters are now 
grown on greenhouse benches. For 
this purpose sow middle of February. 
For our general crop we sow middle 
of March. Some of the varieties grow 
very tall when flowered under glass 
and need staking and lots of head 
room. They pay for the labor because 
yo\i get flne, long-stemmed, clean 
flowers. Under glass they must be 
given plenty of water and frequently 
syringed— well syringed for red spider 
and thrips are ever ready to attack 
them in the hot weather. 

For cuttings we plant our asters in 



during August. We have also thrown 
out a bed of Daybreak carnations and 
filled it up with asters. No fresh soil 
is needed; in fact the asters grow so 
rampant under glass when well sup- 
plied with water that too rich a soil is 
detrimental. But out of doors they 
want a deep, rich soil. 

There are many strains and varieties 
of asters. The large, strong growing, 
branching variety raised by Mr. Sem- 
ple, of Pittsburg, is excellent tor cut- 
ing. Vick's Branching is of about the 
same character. Then there is the 
Truffauts Paeony-Flowered, very fine 
if true, and grand colors; Victoria, 
finely formed; Comet, finely curled 
petals; .Jewel, very compact, incurved 
petals; Betteridge's Quilled, a dense 
mass of short petals with a fringe of 
larger ones; and many other strains, 
all good if well grown, but Semple's, 
though a few weeks later than some 
others, will be found to be grand. 

Under this heading I have dwelt at 
some length on the operation of sow- 
ing seed, for I consider raising many of 
our plants from seed the most import- 
ant part of the grower's occupation. 
It is the most delicate, and if not re- 
quiring the most skill it certainly tax- 
es your patience and demands closer 



attention than any other method of 
propagation. Asters are by no means 
diflicult to handle (quite the contrary) 
but all seeds need care. You can put 
cuttings into the sand very clumsily 
and if shaded you can trust most any- 
one to water the bed and count on suc- 
cess, but there are many things to 
watch in raising seedlings. They are 
often unevenly sown, or careless 
watering will wash most of the seed 
to one corner of the box. When just 
germinating, if allowed to get very dry 
all your work may be in vain, or if 
not shaded when just peeping through 
the surface they may be burnt up. 
Skillful and proper management in 
sowing is one great part of it and con- 
stant watchfulness the other. 

I think the plan of roasting or bak- 
ing the material with which you cover 
the seed is most excellent, especially 
for those seeds that take considerable 
time to germinate, for it kills the seeds 
and spores of weeds and mosses and 
other low organisms that so soon take 
possession of an unoccupied surface. 
A piece of sheet iron over a brisk fire 
will enable you to quickly roast suffi- 
cient soil to cover a great many flats of 
seed. And if the whole mass of soil 
in which you sow as well as cover has 
been baked so much the better. 

ASTILBE JAPONICA. 

This plant was known for years as 
Spiraea japonica, and by the commer- 
cial florist is still almost universally 
called spiraea. It is a perfectly hardy 
herbaceous plant, and there are few 
plants so hardy or that will stand 
more rough usage than this astilbe. 
On dry sunny borders the feathery 
spikes are far less beautiful than those 
we grow under glass, but I have seen 
some very fine spikes this spring on 
plants that were in deep, moist sail and 
partially shaded by trees. It is how- 
ever, as a pot plant or for cut flowers 
in early spring that we are most con- 
cerned with the astilbe. At Easter, 
though by no means so profitable as 
many other plants we grow, they seem 
almost indispensable, and again on 
Memorial Day they are in good de- 
mand. When used for cutting v/e find 
the flower is not the only useful part 
of the plant, the foliage is always 
cleanly used up in cheap bunches of 
flowers. 

The clumps of roots that we force 
are all imported from the rich, fat 
lands of Holland, and so long as the 
Holland growers can supply them so 
cheaply it will never pay us to bother 
with their cultivation. They usually 
arrive about the middle of November 
and should be unpacked and placed in 
flats or boxes with an inch or so of 
soil or litter over them. Then give 
them a good soaking and place the 
boxes outside, anywhere. 

The astilbe can be forced into flower 
in eight weeks by giving it great heat, 
but I much prefer giving them twelve 
weeks, and the first three weeks they 
can be under the bench. It not pre- 
viously done, when potting them give 
the roots a good soaking; there is 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



25 




AsUlbe Japonica, 



such a thick mass of roots that the 
ordinary watering does not thoroughly 
wet them. They are the simplest of 
all plants to force. Pot them into 5, 
C or 7-inch pots, or whatever size will 
hold the roots. A temperature of 55 
to (iO degrees at night will suit them 
better than a higher one. Water is 
the great essential, for by the flower- 
ing time the little soil that you give 
them is one mass of living, hungry 
loots. It is labor saved and far more 
satisfactory all around to stand each 
pot in a 7 or 8-inch saucer, in which 
Iveep a constant supply of water, and 
if this is weak liquid manure your 
plants and plumes of flowers will be 
much finer. 

The astilbe is not troubled by aphis, 
spider, thrips, or any other of our 
pests, but when the growth is young 
and not matured they are easily burnt 
by tobacco smoke and that must be 
avoided, either by covering the as- 
tilbe, or giving them a good syring- 
ing, before you fumigate, or best of all 
don't have them in a house that must 
be fumigated. 

There is a variety known as com- 
pacta, which requires two weeks more 
time to force. Also A. japonica varie- 
gata, which has the leaves prettily 
variegated with yellow, and bearing 
dense panicles, like compacta. But 
the original species, japonica, is the 
best of all for commercial purposes, 
and has the most graceful panicles of 
flowers. 

Those wanted for Decoration Day 



we keep out of doors till April 1st; 
they come into flower easily in two 
months thus late in the season. When 
sold to a regular customer you will 
do well to either sell or give with 
them a 7-inch saucer with instructions 
to place under the pot and keep water 
in it. If this is done the astible will 
be satisfactory, otherwise they will 
shrivel up. 

AZALEA. 

Of all the species of this beautiful 
genus, the Indian or Cliinese are the 
most valuable. The growers of conti- 
nental Europe have made such a spe- 
cialty of growing azaleas that it is not 
likely that we shall for some time look 
to any other source for our supply. 
They may have neither soil, climate 
nor labor more suitable than we have 
in many parts of this continent, but 
certain it is that with our present fa- 
cilities or methods we cannot begin to 
raise an azalea at anything like the 
same cost and quality as those import- 
ed. New varieties are, of course, raised 
from seed, and at the third season you 
will be able to see whether you have 
any improvements on existing varie- 
ties. 

They can also be propagated from 
cuttings by inserting the cutting in 
sand. A cutting of 2% or 3 inches of 
what is known as half-ripened wood 
is best; that is, the young growth of 
spring, not in too green or succulent 
a state, as you would a verbena, nor 
too much ripened and hard. A closely 



shaded frame with some heat under 
the sand, either from pipes or ma- 
nure, would be the most favorable con- 
dition. They are slow to root, and in 
our climate the little plants or cut- 
tings are so liable to the attacks of 
thrip and red spider during the sum- 
mer months, and so difficult to re- 
move, that propagation by cuttings Is 
not worthy of consideration, either to 
produce a fine plant or for profitable 
operation. All the plants we handle in 
our business are grafted. Desirable 
and popular varieties are grafted on 
stocks raised from the seed of some 
strong growing varieties. Our chief 
interest in the azalea is how to han- 
dle them when they arrive here, and 
how to care for those unsold, which 
should make, by good care, a fine plant 
for the second or third year. 

Soil. 

It is generally acknowledged that a 
soil containing lime is very unsuit- 
able for azaleas or any of the order 
ericaceae, which includes the heaths, 
rhododendrons, etc. It will be noticed 
that in some soils the plants imported 
and potted in October have made 
scarcely any young roots into the soil 
we give them. The Belgians grow 
them in fibrous peat, which in 
most parts of our country is difficult 
to obtain. But peat is not entirely 
essential. Two-thirds of turfy loam, 
not sifted, but just broken up, and 
one-third of leaf mould, will make a 
good compost in which azaleas will 
thrive. If to the above is added one- 
tenth of finely sifted decomposed cow 
or sheep manure, so much the better. 

When unpacked, the roots are often 
found dry. They have also rooted so 
freely that to pot them just as re- 
ceived would want an unwieldy sized 
pot. The ball of earth can be reduced 
one-third by shaking off the soil and 
this appears to do the plant little or 
no harm. Considerable of the ball can 
be reduced by slicing off an inch or so 
with a sharp knife,or hatchet. When 
the ball is reduced to the required 
size — and it should only be done when 
the roots would require a pot out of 
proportion to the plant— soak the ball 
of roots in a tub of water for a few 
seconds. Pot firmly. If the soil is 
left loose, it will only be a channel for 
the water to run down and escape the 
roots that need it. 

For the first two or three weeks 
after potting, the plants are best in a 
cool, shady and rather close house or 
frame; after that, a cool, light house 
for those you wish to flower the fol- 
lowing Easter. By cool I mean 40 
degrees at night is ample, and to re- 
tard tJhetn stiill more, anyUhiing above 
the freezing point will do. Some 
varieties cannot be kept for spring, 
and it is well to bring early varieties 
along, so that at all times during win- 
ter you have some plants in flower. 

At no time should the roots of the 
azalea be allowed to get extremely 
dry. They will not bear it; and it may 
be well to state right here that the 
many complaints of our customers 



26 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



that their azalea "has shriveled up or 
the flowers are wilted is nothing but 
the insufficiency of water. Especially 
is this the case with the plants when 
sold the winter following their im- 
portation. When in a temperature of 
over 50 degrees or when any forcing is 
attempted, the plants should be well 
syringed at least once, or better, twice 
a day. 

Mealy bug oftem attacks azaleas. 
Plenty of syringing will keep them 
down. Thrip and red spider are also 
very bothersome to them, but neither 
of these would appear if syringing 
were faithfully observed. They can 
be removed by a syringing of the to- 
bacco extract. The Rose Leaf Extract 



previous summer's growth. Place them 
in a light, warm house, and syringe 
frequently. When cutting back, see 
that the soil is in good shape and tlie 
drainage in order. By the first of June 
they will have made a good growth; 
that growth is what gives you the 
bloom the following winter. From 
the first to the middle of June plunge 
them out-of-doors in the broad sun. 
The pots should be plunged in some 
material to the rim, but in a place 
where water won't remain dur- 
ing 'heavy rains to unduly 
soak tihe roots. Over the sur- 
face of the pots spread an inch 
of rotted refuse hops or rotted stable 
manure. In this position they will do 




Indian Azalea. 



diluted 50 to 1 will do. It is a general 
belief that tobacco smoke injures the 
foliage. It may be so, and it is well 
to avoid it, but I have seen little evi- 
dence that it injured the azalea. 

During January, February and 
March the plants imported the pre- 
vious autumn have a great inclina- 
tion to make a growth before they 
develop their flowers. If thiis growth 
is not rubbed off the flower will be so 
weakened by the strong young growth 
that it will amount to nothing. 

Many growers would rather import 
every year, and if they had plants left 
over in the spring, throw them away. 
To the man who grows but a few 
dozen this is likely to be the most 
profitable way of doing business; but 
where there is enough to warrant sys- 
tematic care, it should not be done, 
for the second, third or even tenth 
year they are a more satisfactory plant 
to the purchaser than those just im- 
ported. With good but not necessarily 
costly care the azalea attains a good 
size and flourishes for many years. 

Plants of the previous autumn's im- 
portation that are unsold the next 
spring, and are frequently in bad 
shape from neglect in stores, should 
be cut back quite sevetrely, even to the 



till the end of September, or till there 
is danger of frost. They want faith- 
ful attendance in watering, never to 
be killing dry and in hot weather a 
daily syringing. 

If it is desired to grow on some 
plants a number of years to make fine 
specimens, the above treatment in 
most respects will do, but there are a 
few exceptions. Plants established in 
pots will seldom need those early 
growths rubbed off, for they have not 
the inclination to make them; neither 
will they want the hard cutting back 
every spring, the growth they make 
after flowering being sufficient for the 
next year, and stopping strong 
growths to keep the plant in good 
shape is all that is needed. 

Azaleas by training and tying easily 
conform to almost any shape. They 
are beautiful if left to grow quite nat- 
urally. They are easily kept Ijy pinch- 
ing and stopping in what may be call- 
ed umbrella form, but are grand when 
trained in pyramidal form. Few cul- 
tivated plants can equal a well flow- 
ered azalea four or five feet in diam- 
eter at base, tapering to two feet at 
top and six or seven feet high. 

The Ghent or American azaleas are 
hardy deciduous shrubs. The flowers 



appear in great abundance before the 
leaves are developed. They are now 
imported in large quantities for Easter 
sales and are very handsome plants. If 
forced early enough for Easter the 
flowers are fairly durable, but in the 
warm days of May they drop quickly. 
The shades of color are all beautiful 
and range from pure white to red. 
Many of the pink and orange varie- 
ties are grand in color and when dec- 
orated with suitable ribbon are most 
attractive in our stores and sell well. 
The plants arrive with the Indian 
azaleas and should receive a soaking 
at the roots and then be potted and 
stored away in a cold-frame till they 
are wanted to force. The time needed 
to bring them into flower will depend 
upon how early the season is, and 
more still on the temperature of your 
house. In a house with a night tem- 
perature of 55 degrees allow about 
seven weeks. Any soil will do for 
them, as it will not pay to carry them 
over the season unsold. It will be 
much cheaper to import fresh stock. 
Our nurserymen recommend them 
strongly for planting out. and where 
the rhododendron does well the hardy 
azalea will also thrive, but in many 
places they are an entire disappoint- 
ment and you should be careful about 
commending them to your patrons.. 

BALSAM. 

In Europe, or the more northern 
parts of it, the balsams are often seen 
grown in pots. With us they do so 
well out of doors that they are not 
thought of enough importance to culti- 
vate except for the borders and large 
beds. Twenty years ago when more 
flowers were used with short stems 
the white balsam was largely grown 
by all of us for use in designs. They 
were then carefully kept free of side 
shoots and bore on their main stem 
fine double flowers. They are seldom 
grown now for that purpose, but are 
still favorites wifh many on account 
of their freedom in flowering, strong 
growth and gay appearance in the 
mixed border. In large grounds where 
to fill up is the chief object the bal- 
sam is most suitable. 

For cultivation of young plants see 
Aster, but remember that the balsam 
is a very tender plant and instead of 
the cold-frame should have a light, 
warm house or the hot-bed. They are 
very strong growing and should have 
a deep, rich soil, plenty of water, and 
they deserve a space of at least IS 
inches each way. The seed is most 
easily saved and if you select your 
flowers and save from the finest you 
will in a few years have as good a 
strain as can he procured anywhere. 

BAY TREES. 

The Sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis) has 
been imported from Belgium to this 
country in large numbers the past 15 
or 20 years. Although the rather stiff, 
formal shapes into which they are 
trimmedi and to which they so readily 
conform are entirely inappropriate in 
the decoration of a drawing room, yet 
there are many situations where they 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



27 




Columnar Bay Tree. 

have a striking effect and are certain- 
ly not out of place. A single pair of 
perfect form could be admitted to any 
church ceremony or at the decorating 
of a large hall. In the summer time a 
handsome pair stand — one on each 
side of the broad granolithic walk, 
leading to a stately mansion on one 
of our fine residence streets, and very 
fine their appearance is. Too much of 
it may get tiresome, as clipped and 
grotesquely-shaped Norway spruces do 
if overdone, but the chronic grumbler 
who in his ignorant and prejudiced 
blindness objects to these handsome 
Bay trees because "they are not nat- 
ural" should be confined to the back- 
woods eternally. Their formality sets 
off the brighter the natural grace of 
the birch, the elm, the maple or lin- 
den and the more or less freedom 
of the hardy flowering shrubs. 

Another place I found the Bays to 
be useful was when asked to decorate 
for a store opening and wagon loads 
of palms were expected. They are just 
the thing to fill up, and a fine pair or 



half a dozen of them on the sidewalk 
is just what Mr. Goldstein wants to 
attract the attention of every passer 
by, and what could you put there 
equal in appearance and withstand 
the ordeal unharmed? Considering the 
years they must be grown, the labor 
entailed and great skill in producing 
such a large tree in such a compara- 
tively small tub, their cost to us is, I 
think, very moderate. 

It is often a surprise to us that such 
a stout stem and large head of 
branches and leaves can subsist on 
such a relatively small quantity of 
soil. From early spring till fall they 
want an abundance of water. They 
are out of doors all summer, or should 
be, so the hose can play on their 
heads freely and over watering of the 
soil is about impossible. From No- 
vember to April a cold shed will keep 
them in good order if it is not too 
(lark and where they won't get more 
than 10 degrees of frost. A coach 
house is an excellent place. It is usu- 
ally light and seldom too cold. Less 
water will do than in the summer 
time. 

The Sweet Bay is a native of South- 
ern Europe. All good boys should have 
read in the good book that if they are 
righteous in their lives they will 
•■flourish like the green bay tree." But 
they must not become a millionaire by 
keeping a department store or they 
will be more like an aged pumpkin, 
hollow, mushy and slushy inwardly. 
This fine evergreen grows well and 
is much planted in the milder parts of 
the British Isles. I expect that all 
over Ireland it grows finely and is sel- 
dom or never injured by frost. In the 
South of England it grows and flour- 
ishes for years, but a winter comes 
occasionally and kills it to the ground. 
Such a winter was that of '60 and '61. 
The best time for us to cut back 
growths or to keep it in that splendid 
form that they are sent to us, is in the 
spring just before they start to grow, 
but if you wished a still more trim 
appearance you would have to pinch 
the young growths as they develop. A 
new tub and more root room is needed 
every three or four years, but keep 
them in as small a tub as possible. 
Liquid manure will help them much 
in April. May and June. To those who 
have not made bows of their strong 
bottom growths or hunted rabbits 
beneath their branches, they may ap- 
pear a cumbersome plant to occupy 
valuable greenhouse room. They don't 
want it. If never coddled up under 
glass they will stand 15 degrees of 
frost without harm, but rather give 
them a little higher temperature. 

BEDDING PLANTS. 

Although directions for the man- 
agement of all our familiar bedding 
plants will be found under their re- 
spective heads a few words on the 
general subject is in order. The earli- 
est bedding that the writer can re- 
member was not very unlike that of 
the present day. 

Fifty years ago we had (I am speak- 
ing now of the gardens of Great Bri- 
tain, for the American flower garden 



had then scarcely an existence) beds 
of verbenas edged with a variegated 
geranium, beds of heliotrope, beds of 
Tom Thumb geraniums, masses of 
yellow calceolarias, in fact it was 
masses of flowering plants, and that 
is largely the taste of the day, though 
not exclusively so because we have so 
many foliage plants now which were 
not then known and which now make 
beds equal in color effect to many of 
the flowers. The coleus and achyran- 
thes were unknown and most of the 
small plants that afterwards came into 
favor for carpet bedding were not in- 
troduced, or were neglected because of 
no value in the economy of the flower 
garden. It seems to me that those 
gardens of old with their circles and 
squares and ovals of showy plants, 
just as well kept as our gardens are 
to-day. were fully as beautiful as any 
we now have. 

Then came the ribbon border — long 
strips of flower garden, perhaps six or 
seven feet on each side of a path. This 
often began with the blue lobelia next 




Pyramidal Bay Tree. 



28 



The FLORISTS' Maiwal. 



the margin o£ grass or box edging, 
then a variegated geranium, next Cal- 
ceolaria annua floribunda, back of 
that Salvia patens (a most beautiful 
blue), then a row of dahlias, and, if 
the border was wide, backed up by a 
stately line of hollyhocks. The rib- 
bon border was well done in this 
country in many places, but as some 
of the flowering plants could not be 
depended upon here we had the coleus, 
which does finely with us and is a 
poor, stunted, dull coloT'ed plant in 
the gardens of Great Britain. 

Then twenty-live years ago, or per- 
haps a little more, the carpet bedding 
was evolved and was carried out most 
elaborately in many places, both pri- 
vate and public. Perhaps in no place 
in the world was it carried to greater 
perfection or more ingeniously than 



the leading plants used in carpet bed- 
ding. They do better in our climate. 
I cannot believe that the alternanthe- 
ras would grow there as they do with 
us, except in the warmer parts of 
Southern Europe, and if you take the 
alternantheras out of carpet bedding 
you leave a large hole. Carpet bedding 
never was a great item with the com- 
mercial florist simply because it was 
too expensive for the great majority 
of our patrons. A bed that could ba 
well filled with geraniums or coleus 
for $1.5.00 would cost $40.00 if well 
done as a carpet bed. The plants we 
always had to grow, for there was sure 
to be a demand from people who 
wanted to try their hand at a fancy 
bed. 

The prevailing taste to-day is to use 
flowering plants as much as possible; 



hot house plants that are bedded or 
plunged out during the summer 
months, including crotons, palms, 
bamboos, etc. They are interesting 
beds, more interesting than hand- 
some, but are instructive and to those 
who love plants are attractive. 

A very simple and well known ar- 
rangement of a bed that I saw very 
recently pleased me very much, and 
still more when the "Missus" of the 
grounds said; "Mr. S., we are delight- 
ed with the bed this year. Don't you 
think it is beautiful?" It was sur- 
rounded here and there, but not 
densely with a few trees and the bed 
was some thirty yards back from the 
street. It was simply a center (about 
two dozen) of a tall, narrow leaved, 
dark — almost blood redi — canna (I 
wish I could give you its correct 




in the South Park system, of Chicago, 
under the direction of Mr. Frederick 
Kanst. It was admired by millions 
and criticised by a few. The minority 
are often in the right, but in this case 
the critics were only wasting their 
words. It was gratifying to the mil- 
lions, and harmless surely, and there- 
fore served its purpose. On a visit to 
the "Old Country" in 1885 we noticed 
much less carpet bedding than we ex- 
pected to see and remember the re- 
mark of one head-gardener who was 
lord of a large domain; "No, we have 
given it up and gone back to the old 
geraniums and calceolarias." It was 
then in its greatest popularity with 
us, but was on the wane across the 
water. 
As with the coleus so with some of 



Bedding in a Public Park. 

even the coleus is not as popular as it 
was a few years since. To be candid 
the zonale geranium, with its splendid 
habit and beautiful trusses of floweis 
of brilliant and pleasing colors, is 
such a viniversal favorite as was the 
horse Eclipse in the mythical story; 
"It is the geranium first, the rest no- 
where." 

There is, however, another style, or 
rather another arrangement, of bed- 
ding that is particularly suited to our 
climate, and on a lawn that is not 
wanted for croquet or tennis what can 
be more cheerful than a bed of can- 
nas. caladiums and coleus. Perhaps 
this style of bedding is not worthy the 
name sub-tropical, perhaps the latter 
term is more properly applied to a bed 
that contains a great variety of our 



name) surrounded by Caladium escu- 
lentum, then two rows of Coleus 
Verschaffeltii and next the grass a 
circle of Golden Bedder coleus. This 
is quite a conventional arrangement 
with us, but hard to beat and gener- 
ally pleasing. 

The landscape architect, especially 
of the most approved style, would, I 
feel sure, declaim against this bed on 
the lawn and say it was bad taste, not 
in harmony with the grass and the 
shade of elm and maple and linden. 
The up-to-date landscape artist don't 
want you to plant a golden elder or 
variegated cornus or Prunus Pissardii 
in shrubbery groupings because the 
coloring is abnormal and not in ac- 
cordance with nature. What does the 
proprietor care about such things? He 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



29 




Various Styles of Bedding. 




Combination Canna and Carpet Bed. 



30 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



wants to be cheerful. This sticking 
to nature is carried to excess. To be 
true to nature we would have to un- 
dergo a great change. We would not 
cut our bair or pare our finger nails 
or use knives and forks and would 
retrograde to the days of the fig leaf. 
Our early ancestors when crawling or 
leaping from limb to limb or wading 
through bogs when emigrating to the 
northern regions of the globe found 
the natural coats of the animals they 
had slain very comfortable on their 
own backs, and now clothing has de- 
veloped into adornment and frills as 
well as becoming a necessity. 

It is the mission of the florist to 
suggest the most appropriate style of 
bedding to his customers where ad- 



your ability to keep a good stock of 
flower garden plants in a compara- 
tively small space till after Easter. 
From fall till after Easter our benches 
are wanted for successive crops, but 
Easter sales largely clear them except 
those planted with roses and carna- 
tions. Geraniums can be then given 
their last shift, and so can ageratum, 
feverfew, heliotrope and salvia. Coleus 
can be grown from a cutting to a fine 
bedding plant in eight weeks. Cannas 
and caladiums can be kept in flats till 
middle of April and then make fine 
plants by June 1st. Petunias can l)e 
pricked out in pans and then in six 
weeks will make the best of bedding 
plants. Centaurea, coleus. achyran- 
thes, verbenas, heliotropes, many of 



must have attention when it is need- 
ed or it is too late. How often you 
hear the remark: "No, I am short on 
this or that. Was too busy and ne- 
glected them." This attention is not 
science; it is only close application 
and good management: and having 
sufficient help at the right time, ana 
setting the men at the work most 
suited to them, is the very best of 
good management. 

I don't know any business where 
neglect to do work at the proper time 
will bring about worse results. A 
tailor, a jeweler, a printer or a parson 
can lock his shop or office for weeks: 
his business may suffer, but his goods 
will not. Ours must be fed and aired 
and moved and shifted as they need it. 





vice is asked for, and poor policy to 
crowd in more than is discreet when 
it is left to his judgment. In resi- 
dence streets a flower bed between the 
house and the street is not good taste 
and should not be advocated. At the 
side or slightly to the rear of the 
house is much better. Houses of a 
moderate size with verandas at side 
and front have often a row or two of 
the flowering cannas in the border 
surrounding the veranda, and very 
handsome they look. 

Florists are now divided into sev- 
eral classes. The strictly store man 
has no interest in bedding plants, nor 
has the wholesale grower more than 
to dispose of them, but the great ma- 
jority of the florists of the country 
raise bedding plants for their spring 
crops and depend upon their sale for 
a good part of their income. If well 
and carefully done and a fair and just 
charge made your customers will be 
very unlikely to leave you and you 
can depend on the order from year to 
year. 

The profit will largely depend upon 



Design Bedding;, 

the geraniums, lobelias, aloysias, and 
all the carpet bedding plants, are far 
better in the hot beds than in the 
greenhouses, giving you plenty of 
room for the spreading out of your 
flne zonale geraniums, cannas and 
caladiums. 

A great mistake made by too many 
florists, especially by those who have 
only three or four houses, is to be 
short of help just at the time it is 
most needed. For the first two weeks 
after Easter a man with 20,000 feet of 
glass occupied by a general run of 
plants could use twenty men with 
profit, though during February and 
March only five men were needed to 
keep up with the work. I am aware 
of the fact that you could not get the 
right kind of men even if you wanted 
them, but many times you allow a 
batch of plants to spoil for want of 
handling when a little more help 
would have saved them. 

Bedding plants are all soft-wooded 
and while they rest largely, or can be 
just kept slowly growing diiring win- 
ter they feel the suns of spring and 



Half the success with bedding 
plants depends upon the planting out. 
We charge nothing for planting if the 
bed is dug and prepared and the 
plants to fill it amount to $10.00 or 
more. If not prepared we charge for 
labor, manure, etc. We always prefer 
to plant where there is only a coach- 
man kept, for then it is properly done. 
Sufficient plants are put in to make a 
good appearance. If enough are sent 
on the wagon there is none left over 
to call for another day, nor three 
more to be delivered to. fill up. Nor is 
four dozen stretched out over a bed 
where six dozen should be planted. If 
the bed looks skimpy you don't want 
it to be known that they were your 
plants, and you will perhaps get the 
blame for poor general effect, for 
there are plenty of unreasonable peo- 
ple about. 

We insist on our men arranging the 
plants carefully, just placing them in 
the holes, but not filling in the soil, 
and then when all are in place giving 
each plant a good soaking and in a 
few minutes filling in with the dry 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



31 



grouiul. That watering is worth ten 
on the surface. Tell your customers 
that cannas and caladiums can be 
soaked every dry evening, but that 
geraniums and beds of coleus and 
most everything else should be left 
alone except in very dry times when 
a thorough soaking should be given 
once a week, followed by a hoeing the 
next morning if the plants are not 
touching each other. 

In charging for the bedding plants, 
whether contract or not, you should 
put down in your day book just how- 
many plants of each variety it took 
to fill the different beds. Then, if 
Mrs. Goodpay orders her large circu- 
lar bed filled with geraniums again 
this year you will refer to her charge 
of last year and find that it took 75 
Mt. of Snow for a double row on the 
outside and the center required 140 
Ernest Lauth. These figures are at 
random. But whether you plant the 
same or vary It you will know e.xactly 
how many is needed. Again you are 
asked a hundred times this que-tion: 
"I have a fiower bed eight feet across. 
How many geraniums will it take to 
fill it? Or how many coleus will it 
take?" We reckon ten inches apart 
for our 4-inch geraniums, about nine 
inches for coleus, fifteen inches for 
cannas and caladiums, and some spe- 
cified distance for all the plants we 
commonly use. You can have a card 
with the sizes of the beds and quanti- 
ties needed all made out so that you 
can give an answer in a few minutes, 
whereas, if you had not the thing fig- 
ured out you would have to begin a 
sum in mathematics while somebody 
else is waiting for an interview. 

The bedding plant business is not 
going to die out and you should cater 
to it. There is a good profit in it and 
it does not conflict with other 
branches of your business. With a 
clear head you can do it all. 




A Long Geranium Bed. 



BEGONIA. 



There are few more familiar plants 
than the begonias and few so widely 
grown. The most popular section — 
the shrubby sorts — are many of them 
most excellent house plants. The Rex 
or stemless section make fine decora- 
tive plants and the tuberous rooted 
class are grand bedding plants. There 
are hundreds of species and numerous 
hybrids obtained by crossing many of 
the species, and among the varieties 
there are some beautiful plants. 

The begonias are all from warm cli- 



mates but do not require a great heat, 
most of them thriving well in a night 
temperature of 50 to 60 degrees during 
the winter months. A good loam with 
a fourth of leaf-mould and rotten cow 
manure will grow any of them. If the 
soil is heavy add some sand, but they 
are really not very particular as to 
soil. 

The Shrubby Section. 

The shrubby section is the most 
popular and the most useful to the 
florist, the winter flowering kinds be- 
ing in good demand. They flower for 




Various Styles of Bedding. 



32 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



months and the flowers are generally 
double while the plant is always orna- 
mental. They are propagated in sand 
during the winter months, and during 
April and May, it properly shaded and 
watered, they root quickly. Any part 
of the shoot or stem will root except 
that which is hard or woody. During 
summer they are best kept under glass 
but should have an abundance of air 
and not too dense a shade. A close, 
damp, dark house will produce a rust 
on the leaves of many of them, which 
is hard to overcome, spoiling the leaf 
as well as flower. 

There are so many species and varie- 
ties that but a few can be enumerated. 

Fuchsioides: A tall growing, grace- 
ful species with scarlet flowers. 



ers are of no particular value, not be- 
ing produced in sutBcient quantity to 
be profitable. Manicata aurea, is, how- 
ever, a most desirable plant and I have 
yet to see any place or firm who have 
had an over supply. Like most varie- 
gated plants it is of much slower 
growth than the type. Few plants are 
so satisfactory as a window or house 
plant, the dry air of a room suiting it 
fully as well as the more moist atmos- 
phere of the greenhouse. A native of 
Mexico, it will thrive in a high tempe- 
rature, but a winter heat of 55 to tiO 
degrees will keep it in good order. To 
bring out its rich golden variegation, 
the leaves being always most irregu- 
larly marked, it should not have very 
rich soil. Pot firmly, and except in 




Begonia Manicata Aurea. 



Glorie de Lorraine: A very recent 
introduction bearing rose colored 
flowers and blooming the entire win- 
ter. 

Gracilis: Very fine summer flower- 
ing sort. 

Incarnata: This name has been dis- 
puted but I can not find it described 
under another. It is an erect gi-owing 
species, flowers most freely and is al- 
ways in bloom by the holidays, but if 
not cut then it makes a beautiful plant 
when its rosy pink flowers are fully 
developed. The variety incarnata 
grandiflora is a great improvement on 
the species. 

Maculata: Spotted leaves and hand- 
some drooping coral pink flowers. 

Manicata: This has a fine, green 
leaf, but is of little value to a florist, 
as it occupies much room and the flow- 



the very hottest months it should have 
the full light. Its thick, fleshy, crook- 
ed stems are slow to branch, and pro- 
pagation by shoots is too slow, but it 
will propagate from sections of the 
leaf precisely as do the Rex begonias, 
either by laying a well developed leaf 
on the sand and pegging it down, 
making a cut here and there through 
the mid-ribs of the leaf, or by cutting 
up the leaf into small pieces and put- 
ting them in the sand. When you be- 
gin steady firing, say in December, 
is the best time to propagate. 

Metallica: Foliage very handsome. 
Pink and white flowers. 

Nitida alba: Very pretty white 
flowers. 

Rubra: Large coral pink. 

Saundersonii: Bright red flowers; 
a very useful variety for cutting. 



Vernon: A splendid bedding plant. 
Dwarf, bushy habit and the plant 
covered with pink and white flowers. 
This variety does well in the broad 
sun and we find it one of the best of 
vase plants. It is easily raised from 
seed. Sown in October it will make a 
fine bending plant by the following 
May. Fifty degrees is warm enough 
and the plants should have at all times 
a light bench or shelf. 

Weltoniensis: An old variety that 
is inclined to be herbaceous. It does 
well planted out in summer and is 
largely used in vases and veranda 
boxes. 

New varieties are being constantly 
sent out, all worth trying. For the 
amateur few plants are more easily 
managed or more interesting than 
many of the distinct species. 

Tuberous-Rooted Section. 

The tuberous-rooted section comes 
from the cooler parts of South Ameri- 
ca and are very distinct from the 
shrubby sorts. They are entirely de- 
ciduous. They make flne bedding 
plants as well as splendid pot plants 
for the greenhouse from June to Oc- 
tober. As a window plant they are 
not to be commended, soon dropping 
their showy petals. It is as a bedding 
plant they are chiefly valuable. When 
I say that I have seen in our city large 
beds of these begonias surpassing in 
brilliancy of color, and certainly in 
variety, any bed of geraniums, it must 
be recognized as a good bedding plant. 
The cooler the summer the better they 
do and in localities where the heat is 
excessive they may not be desirable. 
They are easily raised from seed, 
which should be sown in January or 
February. The seed of all begonias is 
very minute and no covering of the 
seed with soil can be done. Water the 
soil in the pan well before sowing and 
then sow on the surface, covering the 
pan with a pane of glass till the seed 
germinates. When large enough to 
handle prick out the seedlings into 
flats, keeping them on a light shelf, 
and when grown so as to be nearly 
touching put into 2-inch pots and grow 
on. The seedlings hardly make bed- 
ding plants the first year, but can be 
planted on a good piece of soil and 
will make fine bulbs for the succeed- 
ing year. When the tops are killed, 
before there is any danger of frost 
at the root they should be lifted, dried 
in a sunny place and then stored away 
in some perfectly dry material Ulry 
sand will do), till it is time to start 
them again in the spring. 

For the busy florist it is, however, 
advisable to leave the raising of seed- 
lings to the specialist who grows them 
by the hundred thousand and be con- 
tent with buying the dormant roots 
each year. It is cheaper, for the price 
is now lower than you could afford to 
raise them for. The double varieties 
are about twice as costly as the single 
ones and are no more effective as bed- 
ding plants. 

The middle of March is early enough 
to start them, which is best done by 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



33 




Bed of Begonias. 



putting the tubers into flats of sandy 
soil. Halt leaf-mould and lialf sand is 
a good mixture and two inches of it in 
the flats is enough. Place the tubers 
just below the surface and an inch 
apart. We place the flats on the hot- 
water pipes and remove to the bench 
as soon as the young leaves are show- 
ing. By middle of April the leaves 
will be crowding and every tuber will 
have made a mass of roots. There is 
now only one place for the plants and 
that is a mild hot-bed. No great heat 
is needed. We pot into 4-inc'tt and 
plunge in the bed. By middle of May 
the glass can be removed except on 
cold nights. By this method you will 
have fine, sturdy plants inured to the 
weather and broad sun and they will 
receive no check when bedded out. 

As a bedding plant they need lots of 
water and for that reason the beds 
should not be rounded up, but should 
be flat so that the water will soak in 
and not run off to the sides to nourish 
the grass. They should not be water- 
ed overhead as you would a bed of 
geraniums, but the hose, running an 
unobstructed stream, should be guided 
among the plants. I said unobstructed 
because the different kinds of sprayers 
and attachments they have for spray- 
ing with a hose are an abomination to 
a gardener. A good light soil into which 
has been dug a liberal dressing of rot- 
ten cow manure will suit the begonias. 

Plants grown in pots want a liberal 
sized pot and plenty of air. and to do 
them well they should be shaded only 
from the brightest sun. Few insects 
trouble the begonias. 



Rex Section. 

Begonia Rex; The Rex or leaf be- 
gonias were a great and expensive 
novelty when first introduced some 50 
years ago, but are now so common 
they are worth no more than a gerani- 
um. Occasionally you see one in the 
window of a humble dwelling, giving 
the passer-by a full view of its fine 
leaves, so it can not be a very poor 
house plant. 

Nicholson's Dictionary says this 
handsome species of begonia was in- 
troduced into Europe from Assam in 
185S. With due respect to that grand 
work I can swear I saw a small plant 
Introduced into a private garden from 
London as early as 1856, at the modest 
cost of $5.00 a leaf. There were two 
leaves on the plant. But this is of 
little consequence. 

Besides being a fine decorative plant 
for the conservatory it is very effect- 
ive in vases and veranda boxes where 
not exposed to the afternoon sun. their 
large leaves having a striking effect. 
It is really a tough plant even if it is 
royal. A good light loam with plenty 
of leaf-mould and rotten manure will 
grow it finely. It likes more shade 
than the shrubby section, in fact will 
grow in very shady positions, and lux- 
uriates in a warm, moist atmosphere. 
It can be syringed daily, contrary to 
general practice, and delights in it. 

There are two methods of propaga- 
tion. Either will do. You can cut the 
leaf (a mature, but by no means an 
old yellow one) into pieces two or 
three inches long, cutting the pieces 
wedge shaped to a mid-rib and putting 



upright half their length in warm 
sand; or, the entire leaf can be laid 
right side up on the surface of the 
sand, pegging the leaf down close to 
the sand, having previously cut 
through from the underside at every 
inch or two the principal nerves or 
ribs of the leaf. In the last named 
method the young plants will spring 
from the ends of the cuts. As with 
those struck the other way keep well 
shaded when first potted. If plants 
are wanted for spring sales the leaves 
should be put in as soon as firing com- 
mences, as it will take them all winter 
to make useful plants by the following 
May. 

BELLIS. 

The perennial daisy is a favorite 
garden plant with many and some of 
the improved varieties are grown 
under glass, in a cool house, for cut- 
ting. But we have so many better 
flowers for all purposes that as cut 
flowers they are little used. 

We are frequently asked for plants 
in the early spring as we are for pan- 
sies. They are easily divided either 
in spring or fall. The commercial man 
who has need to grow them had bet- 
ter divide the roots in September, 
plant in a cold-frame a few inches 
apart and cover with glass during the 
coldest months. 

There are many fine varieties, red, 
pink and white. 

BILLBERGIA. 

See Bromellads. 



34 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



BOSTON IVY. 

See Ampelopsis. 

BOTTLE BRUSH. 

See Metrosideros. 

BOTTOM HEAT. 

In all cultural notes there is more or 
less occasion to refer to bottom heat. 
There was a time wheu few cuttings 
were thought to root well without the 
aid of bottom heat unless it was the 
cuttings of the ericas and conifers. 
Practice has taught us that to have the 
heat of the sand or propagating ma- 
terial greater than the temperature of 



well if well laid in cement. Heat and 
moisture quickly rot wood, so use 
brick, and a few inches from the top, 
according to the purpose tor which you 
want to use the bed, lay in, or rather 
build in, some strong strips of iron. 
A strip two inches by half an inch will 
bear a good weight of sand if the bed 
is not more than 3 feet wide and will 
give a good bearing for the slates. If 
6 feet wide you must have a center 
support for the irons, and 1-inch gas 
pipe with 1-inch uprights every 3 feet 
will do wellfor that. Your cross strips 
should not be more than a foot apart. 
If you want bottom heat don't at- 
tempt to get it through a 1-inch board. 




Bougainvillea Sanderiana. 



the house is with many cuttings en- 
tirely unnecessary. Ten or fifteen de- 
grees hotter will certainly hasten the 
rooting of most of our soft-wooded 
plants, and with some it is a decided 
advantage while with others (carna- 
tions and geraniums for instance) It 
is not desirable. 

Where bottom heat is essential there 
is no way so inexpensive or durable 
as having the hot-water or steam 
pipes under the benches and inclosed 
HO that the heat will remain under 
them. The hot-lied (primitive green- 
house) is ideal as a means of afford- 
ing bottom heat, but it is of short du- 
ration, being available only during 
the spring and summer months and is 
always liable to neglect. Years ago 
in growing plants requiring bottom 
heat many a day was laboriously spent 
in carting into the houses tan-bark, 
leaves and other fermenting material 
to afford heat to plants. That, how- 
ever, is past and only the hot-water 
and steam pipes are now used. 

Whether it be for the propagating 
bench or for plunging plants that re- 
quire bottom heat let the walls of the 
lied or bench be of brick. A 4-inch 
brick wall back and frout will do very 



Wood is one of the poorest conductors 
of heat and slate is one of the best. 
Half-inch .slates (or thicker) in large 
slabs are very expensive. For a propa- 
gating bench roofing slate 24x12 will 
do very well and will last for years if 
you support it in the middle by having 
one of the iron strips every toot. 

If all your heating pipes are under 
the bench it will be necessary to have 
sliding openings in the wall to let out 
some heat in very cold weather, but 
in most hfuises there will lie an inde- 
pendent pipe with which you regulate 
the atmospheric temperature. Don't 
use wood tor these beds. Use brick, 
iron and slate, and in ten years you 
will have saved money and much vex- 
ation. 

BOUGAINVILLEA. 

The most useful species of bougain- 
villea is the well known glabra, which 
makes a fine greenhouse climber in 
any house where the temperature does 
not go below 50 degrees at night. The 
flower is inconspicuous; it is the 
showy rosy purple bracts of the flowers 
that give the plants such an ornament- 
al appearance. Long sprays of the 
bougainvillea covered with these 



showy bracts are of great value for 
decorations. 

The plant should be in a large pot or 
tub, or may be planted out in the bor- 
der, but where it has unlimited root 
room it grows too freely and does not 
flower so well. During winter the sup- 
ply of water can be diminished till the 
plants start growing again in March, 
at which time the plants can be cut 
back to within a few eyes of the previ- 
ous year's growth. 

The variety of glabra known as 
Sanderiana begins to flower when very 
small and is much the best for plants 
of medium size in pots. We were very 
successful in flowering plants of this 
the past spring but are disappointed in 
it as a house plant. The great majority 
of our flowering plants are sold to 
people who want them for their win- 
dows or rooms and unless a plant has 
fair keeping qualities under such con- 
ditions it will never be popular. The 
bracts of B. Sanderiana, while hang- 
ing on the plants for months in the 
greenhouse soon drop with the leaves 
when removed to the dry heat of the 
living room. 

The following is our practice and 
plants of various shapes, averaging 
two feet above the pot and eighteen 
inches across were covered with the 
flowers and bracts. Cuttings made 
from the young growths strike freely 
in the sand in January or February. 
The flrst year they are planted out in 
light rich soil out of doors, where 
they make a vigorous growth. They 
are potted in the fall and kept rather 
cool and dry the following winter. In 
the spring they are put into 5 or 6-inch 
pots and plunged outside where they 
make a moderate but rather firm 
growth. Before there is any danger of 
frost they are removed to the green- 
house and are kept in a light house 
with a night temperature of about 50 
degrees. In January we move them 
into a warmer house (about 60 de- 
grees) and begin to syringe them and 
give more water. The flower should 
soon appear on the growth of the pre- 
vious summer. 

When growing or flowering they like 
an abundance of water and the soil 
should always be in a condition that 
will allow the water to pass freely 
away. Good filirous loam with a little 
leaf-mould or old decomposed hot-bed 
material suits them well. 

I will take this opportunity to say 
that this old hot-bed material is of 
great service and it is one of the rea- 
sons we like to put up a few dozen 
sash each year. There can be little 
ammonia left in the manure, but the 
manure with the soil and leaves, and 
perhaps refuse hops, thoroughly de- 
composed and well mixed together, is 
an excellent thing to add to the com- 
post for nearly all our soft-wooded 
plants and takes the place of leaf- 
mould with our hard-wooded ones. It 
must be the excellent mechanical con- 
dition more than the fertilizing quali- 
ties that makes it so valuable an ad- 
dition to all our soils. 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



35 



BOUVARDIA. 

The bouvardia can be classed as al- 
most a tropical plant, most of the spe- 
cies coming from Southern Mexico and 
South America. The hybrids of some 
of these species are what are of value 
to the florist. Twenty years ago the 
bouvardia was one of the most impor- 
tant of the plants we grew, but iif late 
years, with the advent of long- 
stemmed carnations, the wonderful 
roses, the chrysanthemum and other 
more durable flowers, the bouvardias 
have been much less grown, and in 
commercial places they generally oc- 
cupy but a small place, if any, notwith- 
standing they are beautiful and easily 
grown, and that the flower has grace 
and refinement. In these days of keen 
competition, the question is, "Do they 
pay?" That you must judge by experi- 
ence in your own locality. 

The best time to begin propagation 
i.s early March, with the roots of 
plants that have been grown on a 
bench for winter flowering. The bou- 
vardia roots very slowly and unsatis- 
factorily from the young top growths, 
and in ordinary practice that is not 
considered a practical method of pro- 
pagating this plant. We will begin 
with the young roots. Don't take the 
large roots near the base of the plants, 
nor the thin, thread-like roots of the 
widest growth. Choose the growths 
between these. Cut them into pieces 
about one-half or three-fourths of an 
inch in length and distribute them on 
a propagating bench, where you have 
a good heat, as you would coarse seed, 
pressing them into the sand. Then 
cover with at least an eighth of an 
inch of sand, pressing it down after 
covering. Water sufficiently to keep 
moist, about as you would other cut- 
tings. In three or four weeks young 
plants will be springing up. When 
they have made two or three leaves 
and are an inch high, lift them from 
the sand and pot into 2-inch pots. 

The bouvardia is a tropical plant 
and at no stage of its existence should 
it be exposed to a low temperature. 
This accounts for the very different 
treatment we give it from what is 
considered right in Western Europe. 
Plant out in the open ground about 
the first of .June, or earlier, if you are 
in a latitude where no late frosts ap- 
pear. A very light, rich soil is much 
the best adapted to the wants of the 
bouvardia. Unless there is a very long 
spell of hot, dry weather, no watering 
is needed after the first good watering 
when planted. The growth that has 
started in the greenhouse will continue 
to grow out of doors, but that is of 
little consequence, and can before lift- 
ing be entirely cut away. It is the 
strong, vigorous growth that will 
spring from the roots after being 
planted out that you will depend on to 
give you flowers. They want stopping 
about twice during the summer. 

The lifting time will vary according 
to where you are. In Buffalo we used 
to lift about the second week in Sep- 
tember. If later, and the weather 



should be cold, they are much slower 
in taking hold of the soil in their new 
quarters. A very good plan is to do 
the last pinching a week or so before 
you lift them. The break from this 
last stopping will then come in about 
right for the holidays. Plant in five 
inches of good loam, and as to dis- 
tance apart, be guided by size of the 
plants. A foot apart is little enough 
for any of them. Anybody, with al- 
most any temperature, can get the first 
crop of bouvardia, but to get them to 
make a growth and a profitable crop 
of flowers again in March requires 
heat. Unless they are kept in a night 
temperature of at least 60 degrees and 
syringed daily, they will just stand 
still after their first crop is over. The 
rampant way they grow and fiower 
when the warm sun of April comes 
shows you what they want. 

They can, of course, be grown in 
pots, but do far better and are more 
easy to manage planted on a bench in 
a light warm house. 

If after the end of March you need 
the bench for some other crop you can 
cut down the bouvardias to within a 
few inches of the bench, lift them, 
shaking off all the soil, and place them 
close together in flats with three or 
four inches of moist soil around them 
and put under a bench where there is 
not much drip, and they will do there 
all right till planting out time. The 
old plants will of course be much lar- 
ger than those propagated the first 
year. 

Red spider attacks them, and so does 
mealy bug, but their presence is in- 
excusable, for a proper use of the hose 
will prevent both. Green fly will ap- 
pear if fumigation is neglected, but be 
careful to smoke lightly, particularly 
when the plants are first housed, for 
they burn readily. 

In lifting, I cannot say as you can 
about carnations, "let all the soil tum- 
ble off if it will, so long as I save ev- 
ery flbre," for they do not lift so well, 
or rather, do not recuperate so quickly. 
Lift carefully with a good ball of earth 
and for the first week shade and sy- 
ringe frequently. 

BROMELIADS. 

Except the variegated pineapple (see 
Ananas), there are few or none of 
these curious plants that are of any 
commercial value, though among them 
are some beautiful and interesting 
plants. The Bufl:'alo Botanical Gardens 
now possess the very valuable collec- 
tion brought together by the late firm 
of Pitcher & Manda, with several ad- 
ditions, making it the most complete 
collection in this country, and it is in 
the finest possible condition. 

Besides the ananas, the most famil- 
iar genera are the tillandsia and the 
bromelia. The leaves are stiff, vari- 
ously colored, and fiuted or concave, 
always carrying the moisture to the 
base of the leaf. The flowers are often 
handsome. They are mostly from 
tropical America. 

Propagation is by offsets or suckers. 



which, when separated from the old 
plant, should be potted and plunged in 
a good heat. They are grown in pots 
or baskets, which should be drained 
with a third of crocks, and the com- 
post should be fern roots and sphag- 
num. They require heavy shade in the 
summer and must be frequently 
syringed. It is the moist atmosphere 
they delight in. 

By their channeled leaves they accu- 
mulate water, which remains in quan- 
tity at the base of the stem, and it 
should not be disturbed, as it does no 
harm. In nature the water would 
surely be there, and in this respect at 
least we cannot improve on nature. A 
compost such as described, plenty of 
moisture, and a minimum winter tem- 
perature of 70 degrees, is what they 
want. Following are named some of 
the most distinct genera and species: 

Tillandsia utriculata and T. fene- 
stralis. 

Guzmania fragrans and G. tricolor. 

Aechmea fulgens and A. crocophylla. 

Karatis spectabilis and K. Moritzia- 
num. 

Vriesia musaica and V. splendens. 

Billbergia zebrina. 

F\n- the culture of the variegated 
pineapple (Ananas sativa variegata), 
see Ananas. 

BROWALLIA. 

The best known species is elata of 
which there are two varieties. One has 
white flowers but the variety grandi- 
fiora is a fine blue. They are often 
used as flower garden plants but are 
more suitable for the mixed border as 
they are liable to go out of bloom just 
when their color is most needed. 

For the flower garden sow the seed 
in March and transplant into flats or 
small pots and plant after all danger 
of frost. As a pot plant for winter 
use (and they will flower during our 
darkest days) sow in July and August. 
A pan six or seven inches across and 
four inches deep with half a dozen 
plants makes a nice show and many of 
them could be sold as Christmas 
plants. When once established in the 
pans they are better kept out of doors 
in a frame and given the open air but 
covered with glass in case of a storm. 
They must be syringed daily and will 
need pinching once or twice to induce 
them to branch. Remove to the green- 
house before any danger of frost. 

BULBS. 

Under this head, instead of under 
their respective names, is given the 
culture of those bulbs that are gen- 
erally forced, especially those known 
as Dutch bulbs, and which have been 
so important an item with us for the 
past twenty years. 

Roots that are often called bulbs are 
really corms and not bulbs. The cro- 
cus, caladium. richardia and gladiolus 
are corms. The true bulbs are the lily, 
hyacinth, tulip, etc. It is only of the 
Dutch bulbs that this article treats. 

The tulip, hyacinth and narcissus all 
want about the same treatment, with 



36 



T'iE FLORISTS' Manual. 



some variation, which will lie noted. 
There is little doubt that the lilies (or 
what may be called the loose-scaled 
bulbs) are subject to injury through 
being long exposed to the air, and they 
really should not be long in a perfectly 
dormant state. Notice the Lilium can- 
didum in our gardens. Soon after the 
flower stalk is gone the plant begins to 
throw up a young crop of leaves, show- 
ing it is but a short time dormant, if at 
all. Not so with the more fleshy bulbs, 
like tulips, which remain out of the 
ground four or five months without the 
slightest harm. 



bed, as desired. If lifted, the tops 
should be about ripe before the bulbs 
are disturbed. If lifted as soon as the 
flower is faded, you have arrested the 
formation of the bulb that was stor- 
ing up its strength for the following 
year. 

The early tulips and hyacinths liloom 
with us early in May. As our bedding 
plants do not go out till nearly or 
quite June 1, there is nearly time to 
give the bulbs a chance to mature. 
Two weeks later, however, would be 
much better if the welfare of the bulbs 
was the main consideration. When 




Single Tulips. 



Bulbs for Bedding. 

The hyacinth, tulip and hardy nar- 
cissus are usually planted in the open 
ground in October and November. 
They should always be planted a good 
si,\ inches deep. The closer together 
the better the effect. A thinly planted 
tulip bed looks badly and is not worth 
doing. I call a foot apart thin. Six 
inches apart will make a gorgeous bed. 
Any soil will flower the bulbs one year, 
for the flower bud is already formed; 
it merely opens with you. But to grow 
them so that they will flower again the 
following, or third or fourth, year, a 
good, deep, rich soil should be given 
them. 

The great majority of our bulbs 
when planted to succeed the flower 
garden plants are intended to flower 
only one year, and that suits the florist 
who supplies the bulbs very well, but 
that is no reason why the bulbs should 
be neglected or thrown away. The 
bulbs may either be lifted or left in the 



first lifted, expose the bulbs and tops 
to the air till they are ripe and the 
tops wither away, when the tops can 
be pulled off, the bulbs cleaned, and 
stored away in a dry, cool place till 
fall. I noticed this spring about as 
good flowers produced by tulips the 
second year as by those freshly im- 
ported. The bulbs will do very well 
if left in the ground, which it is some- 
times convenient to do, in the mixed 
border, for instance. If In beds, you 
can sow some summer annuals over 
them, such as California poppy, with- 
out much harm. 

There are always some inquiries as 
to "When shall I cover my tulip bed?" 
These and the hyacinths are perfectly 
hardy and no covering is necessary till 
Christmas, when two or three inches of 
stable manure or litter can be put on 
the bed. It helps not so much to keep 
fro=t out as to prevent the surface from 
continuously alternating between a 
freeze and a thaw, which often occurs 
in the month of March, 



In planting a bed of bulbs to any set 
pattern or design, look out for time of 
flowering of the several sorts. Crocu.^ 
are always best alone and should not 
be used with the tulips and hyacinths. 
Von Sion narcissus is about as early 
as the hyacinths, which are several 
days ahead of the earliest tulips, and 
should not be in the same group. The 
early single tulips (except Due Van 
Thol, which should not be usedl all 
flower about the same day and go well 
together. The early double tulips are 
all right with the early single tulips. 
We noticed La Candeur, the inexpen- 
sive double white, planted with the 
early tulips. That was a mistake, as it 
is ten days later than the early tulips. 
If a double white is needed with the 
single varieties, Murillo is the sort; it 
is early, and a grand flower. Yellow 
Pi'ince, Chrysolora, La Belle Alliance, 
all the Pottebakkers, La Reine, Keiz- 
erskroon, Proserpine, Vermillion Bril- 
liant, Cottage Maid, Tournesol. in fact, 
all the early single and double tulips, 
can be planted in one combination and 
will make a fine display. The little 
blue scilla can be planted with the 
crocus. It blooms with the crocus 
soon after the snow is gone. 

Bulbs for Forcing. 

Within 25 years, and with many 
more recentl.v, the forcing of tulips, 
hyacinths and narcissus has become 
a most Important part of our winter 
operations. About 12 years ago it 
was at its zenith, ' but as the best 
methods of forcing ''became widely 
known and in consequence vast quan- 
tities were imported and the blooms 
thrown on the market the public be- 
gan to tire of the flowers till during 
the last few years they have dropped 
seriously in price, and duiiug the 
last winter hundreds of thousands of 
fine flowers were sold at about the 
cost of the bulbs. We predict a much 
smaller importation each year. 

These remarks do not apply to- the 
good old Dutch hyacinth that we 
grow in a 4-inch pot. They liave been 
grown in pots and glasses for a hun- 
dred years and always will be. There 
are few sweeter flowers for the price 
than a nice spike of hyacinth. Peo- 
ple know them and don't ask "How 
long will they last?" They think 
rightly that they have received good 
value for their money if they have 
had a pot of hyacinth in their win- 
dow for ten days. Large quantities 
of flne hyacinths are also grown for 
Easter in pans, from three to a dozen 
in a pan. The latter quantity of some 
flne distinct variety in a 12-inch pan 
is a rich affair and generally attracts 
the purchaser who is looking for 
something nice to send his or her 
friend on Easter morn. The Von Sion 
narcissus, or daffodils as they are 
familiarly called, make also fine pans. 

Roman hyacinths are still flowered 
in immense quantities and fashion 
has not changed the demand. They are 
graceful, waxy white flowers and can 
be used in several ways, either by 



The FLORISTS' manual. 



37 




Dutch Hyacinths. 



themselves or In combination with 
roses, violets or carnations. 

It you want tulips or Von Sions, 
Paper white narcissus or Roman hya- 
cinths at the earliest possible date 
they can be got in flower you should 
not delay a day in getting a portion 
'of your shipment into the flats, and 
they should be well watered and cov- 
ered at once. The Romans arrive in 
August, the Paper White a little later 
and the tulips, hyacinths and Von 
Sions along in September. As I re- 
marked about the soil for the beds, 
the soil, providing it is of a loose tex- 
ture and easily handled, is of little 
consequence. Heat and water force 
out the flower spike and that is the 
last you care about the bulb. We 
generally use the soil that has done 
duty the previous year on the carna- 
tion benches. 

I found out many years ago that 
boxes and flats of every size and 
shape for forcing bulbs was a poor 
plan, however cheap, and for years 
have made boxes of one pattern, which 
is 24 inches long, 12 inches wide and 



3 inches deep, all inside measure. I 
buy strips 16 feet long (any length 
will do, but you don't want waste), 3 
inches wide and half an inch thick, 
and some strips 3 inches wide and 1 
inch thick. Four of the thin strips 
make the bottom with a little space 
between them, two of them make the 
sides and the 1 inch thick strips make 
the ends. They are nailed together 
with 6-penny nails, and two or three 
boys will make 150 of them in a few 
hours. These boxes will last several 
years if cleaned out and piled with 
their bottoms up, but not if allowed 
to lay around the yard half full of 
soil till the following fall, or run over 
by the wagon, or when used to carry 
plants to a bedding job to be left 
there and not called for. 

Oh, florists, I am not immaculate 
myself in this respect, but how many 
dollars you do waste in letting your 
boxes, pots, flats, tools and imple- 
ments lie around in disorder. You 
are about as bad as the slovenly farm- 
ers in a poor, poverty stricken farm- 
ing district which is always to be 



found without going very far. It is 
well known, and admitted by the man- 
ufacturer, that if the American farmer 
took good care of his agricultural im- 
plements and tools half the factories 
could and would close down. The 
scythe is hung in the apple tree, the 
plow is thrown out at the end of tbe 
last furrow to bleach and rot in the 
sun and rain, the harrow may be dig- 
nified by being tilted up against the 
fence, and the costly reaper lies out 
in the yard for the children and chick- 
ens to perch on. There is no time to 
clean and put things away. The gos- 
sip of the village smithy or rural 
post-office must be attended to. The 
prosperous farmer's place is all con- 
trary to this, and as the florist is 
farming on a high grade and costly 
plan where the outlay and receipts to 
the acre are enormous, it behooves 
him to take care of all his implements 
and have them ship shape and in place 
where they are always ready to his 
hand. 

Some men can do twice as much 
on an acre as another. It is order, 
system and cleanliness that enables 
him to do it. ■'Dirt is matter out of 
place." That is a true definition. I 
once found fault with a man. who was 
then a partner, that his rubbish pile 
contained everything from decent pot- 
ting soil to broken glass, hoop iron 
and empty beer bottles. He rather 
peevishly replied that he had no tim? 
to spare and was glad to get rid of 
the stuff out of the greenhouses. That 
"time" excuse is the worst of all, and 
the man who lets his wagon stand out 
in the sun till the hubs are cracked 
has always the most time to spin a 
yarn, or see how much old Bill Jones' 
cows bring at the auction. If my 
friend had had a pile for stuff that 
was puiely rubbish and another for 
old soil and plants and vegetable 
matter that would come useful some 
day it would have been much time 
saved in the end and some money. 

With this diversion we will return 
to the bulbs. The flats as described 
will hold 60 Romans. 50 Paper White, 
and from 60 to 72 tulips, according to 
the size. Yellow Prince is a large 
bulb, La Reine is a small one. I be- 
lieve, as Mr. Ernst Asmus said at Chi- 
cago years ago. that it makes little 
difference in the flowering how close 
the bulbs are. Even if touching they 
will flower all right, and save room. 

We alwa.vs do our bulb boxing out- 
side on a temporary bench where the 
soil can be brought to the men by 
the cart load. We fill the flats nearly 
full, very loosely, and squeeze the 
bulb into the soil till the top of the 
bulb is even with the edge of the box. 
A few handfuls of soil fill up between 
the bulbs and the job is done. All thi's 
is a very quick operation. A good 
man will box S.OOO to 10,000 a day if 
supplied with boxes and soil and an- 
other man to take the boxes away 
when filled. 

Bulb houses have been spoken of, 
but I never saw the need of them. 
We once tried our earliest tulips un- 



38 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



der the bench of a very cool house, 
covered with an inch of soil. It was 
an entire failure. There is no better 
place for the flats when filled than 
the surface of the open ground. We 
smooth off a piece of ground and lay 
out beds six or seven feet wide and 
any desired length, leaving the same 
width between beds. We lay down 
strips of old boards to keep the bot- 
toms of the flats away from the soil. 
When one bed is covered with flats 
we get out the hose and thoroughly 
water the soil in the boxes. When 
the water has soaked in we dig up the 
ground between the beds and cover 
the bulbs with this soil about three 



In many years we have never had 
any difliculty in getting them in to 
force. A mild day is sure to come 
and you can then get in enough for 
several weeks, keeping some of them 
in reserve in a cool shed'. If unpro- 
tected by snow and the covering of 
soil is frozen we bring in covering 
and all and clean them off when 
thawed out. Out of doors is their 
natural place and I believe it is better 
for the bulbs to make their roots there 
than in any house or cellar you could 
build. 

Paper White narcissus we do not 
allow to freeze, giving them the pro- 
tection of glass in addition to the ma- 



m^ '^"^ 




1 


^ 


'' ^Wi.- ^ 


■11 




1 








u 




f^iHfSft^W 


^^^^1 






IT 


^^H 


H 



Hyacinths in Basket, trimmed with White Ribfcon. 



inches deep. We never cut down the 
.soil nearer than a foot from the end 
or side of the boxes because they 
want to be well protected there. The 
frost is sure to penetrate into the 
l)eds from the sides, if anywhere. 

Nothing more is done to the beds 
for a month or two, or till severe 
winter weather sets in, excepting it 
be a very dry time. If it is dry give 
the beds a thorough watering every 
week. Remember the bulbs are not 
as though they were planted out and 
they get none of the benefit of the 
moisture arising from the depths of 
the ground as they would if planted 
in it, and the bulbs will not make 
roots unless the soil is kept moist. 
About the middle of December we 
throw on about four inches of stable 
manure. It is just as well to let the 
soil in the flats be slightly frozen be- 
fore covering with the manure, as it 
will stop the bulbs from growing up 
too long. If too much manure is put 
on it will encourage the bulbs to draw 
up to a great length before spring, 
which will greatly injure their hand- 
ling. 



nure, but they are mostly into the 
houses before very hard weather. 

Roman hyacinths will stand as 
much freezing as the tulips, but must 
not be handled when frozen. If frozen, 
bring in the whole covering with 
them and let them thaw out in a 
very cool shed. If when frozen they 
are put suddenly into heat (as you 
would a tulip) they will be ruined. 

The Dutch hyacinths in pots we 
stand in a frame on dry ashes, and 
after covering with soil and litter 
prefer to cover with shutters or glass 
to prevent very hard freezing. Freez- 
ing may not hurt the bulbs, but it 
breaks the pots and pans. 

Roman hyacinths and Paper White 
narcissus can be had in bloom from 
the first of November on. They want 
the light and no extra heat at any 
time. Both are better when brought 
on slowly. The Paper White, if well 
rooted, should have seven weeks in 
a light house at a temperature of 60 
degrees; then it will be in good or- 
der for Christmas. As the season ad- 
vances Romans require less and less 
time under glass. During March and 



April two weeks in any house will 
bring them into flower. 

The Von Sion narcissus are forced 
in precisely the same way as the tu- 
lips. 

For years we struggled to get tulips 
in flower at Christmas and with the 
Due Van Thol, and even with some 
of the finer early tulips, we were suc- 
cessful. But what is there in it when 
you have succeeded? There are plenty 
of other flowere for all purposes, and 
fancy trying to sell a dozen forced 
and sickly tulips when a dozen fine 
carnations can be had. So we have 
left tulips alone till after New 
Year's, when, if brought in, they can 
be had in flne quality by end of Jan- 
uary or a few days before, and that is 
as fcoon as they are wanted. 

The earliest tulips want a strong 
heat; 75 degrees is not too much, with 
plenty of water, and they need shad- 
ing with cheese cloth or some such 
material to produce a good stem. Up 
to first of March they need heat, with 
lessening shade, after that they flower 
on any greenhouse bench, the last 
ones to flower inside wanting a light 
house, as they are inclined to have 
long, weak stems. 

The conditions to produce the early 
tulips are heat, moisture and shade, 
but not heat that will burn the roots. 
On the pipes is no place for them; it 
is heat around the young growths that 
is wanted, not at the roots. 

The varieties I mentioned for bed- 
ding are the very best for forcing. 
When wanted for any special date, 
like Easter, and they are a few days 
too early you can help to keep the 
tulips in good order by • putting the 
flats under the bench when the flow- 
ers are about fully developed and cov- 
ering with paper, which prevents the 
opening and closing that takes place 
on every fine sunny day. 

Hyacinths in pots and pans need 
no forcing towards spring, coming on 
very quickly as soon as brought into 
the greenhouse. It is impossible to 
give any flxed time to allow for these 
bulbs to come into flower, as seasons 
vary so much. 

There is an immense number of 
species and varieties of narcissus. 
Trumpet major and the Incomparable 
type all do well if given the same 
treatment as the tulips and Von Sion 
narcissus. The Polyanthus narcissus 
are beautiful in form and color and 
are fragrant. They force well, but 
should not be exposed to frost at any 
time. They are not profitable for the 
commercial man, but are beautiful for 
the private conservatory. The Narcis- 
sus poeticus, and its fine variety orna- 
tus, are both hardy and force well, 
and so do the elegant sweet scented 
jonquils. 

CACTUS. 

You can walk through many a green- 
house establishment, large and small, 
without seeing a specimen of any of 
these curious plants, and unless you 
are a specialist you will be wise to 
leave them alone. The demand for 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



39 



fV^ 




,1 











Paper White Narcissus. 



them is altogether too small. You 
will, however, be often asked: "How 
shall I make my cactus flower?" etc , 
and as the florist is supposed to know 
how to cultivate every green thing 
it is well to be able to give an intel- 
ligent answer to the old lady whose 
uncle sent her the cactus in question 
many years ago from Mexico. 

Grotesque and peculiar as the 
growth of many of the cacti is the 
flowers of some, notably the night- 
blooming cereus (C. grandiflorus) are 
most gorgeous. It lasts but one short 
night, but while open it is almost 
unrivalled in its magnificent form, 
lovely colors, the beauty of its sta- 
mens and general appearance as well 
as great ti'agrance. 

The mammillarias are the most use- 
ful for bedding, making a beautiful 
appearance in a bed of succulents. The 
United States and Mexican species will 
winter in a very cool place and need 
little, if any, water in the dark winter 
days. All of the tropical kinds will 
winter very well in a night tempera- 
ture of 55 degrees, and our summers 
suit them well. 

They are about as easily grown in 
a window as they are in the green- 
house if proper care is used in water- 
ing. Few if any insects trouble them. 
Drainage is of first importance, and 
neither in summer when they are 
growing nor in winter when they are 
at rest should the soil ever remain 
saturated. So whatever the compost 
be let the pot or tub be filled one- 
third with broken crocks so that water 
is sure to pass off quickly. In winter 
when little growth is being made, es- 
pecially if you are keeping the plants 
cool, water sufficient to keep the soil 
from getting dust dry will do. In April 



and May and through the summer, if 
the soil is well drained, you can water 
daily. 

The soil should be a good fibrous 
loam to which add one-fourth of 
coarse sand, and if that is not at hand 
add some powdered bricks or old plas- 
ter crumbled up. They need little pot 
room and should not be shifted for 
several seasons. All of them would 
do well out of doors in summer time 
if convenient to put them outside, but 
look out for heavy rains; for those 
that are in pots or tubs too much 
water will rot the roots. 

Some of the genera are hardy in the 
latitude of New York, but a very se- 
vere winter will hurt them, and where 
used for bedding it is better to lift 
them and place in flats and winter in 
a cold house or protected frame. 

The most valuable of the cacti 
grown for their flowers, and which 
makes a most showy winter flowering 
plant is Epiphyllum truncatum and 
its varieties. It does not make a good 
plant on its own roots, not being 
strong enough to stand erect, and 
when a handsome little tree is seen 
it has been grafted on the pereskia 
stock. The flowers of the epiphyllum 
are most numerous and its varieties 
have colors varying from deep scarlet 
to almost pure white. The type is a 
deep rose color. 

Like all the cacti the epiphyllum 
wants perfect drainage and must not 
be over-potted. Keep cool in the late 
fall months till they begin to show 
flower when they should have more 
heat till the flowers are fully expand- 
ed and can then be removed to a cool 
house which will prolong the life of 
the flowers. 

The operation of grafting the epi- 



phyllum on the pereskia is very sim- 
ple. Pieces of the pereskia of any de- 
sired length will root in moderately 
moist sand. When potted off and es- 
tablished in pots the top of the stem 
Is split for an inch or so, a branch of 
the epiphyllum inserted, and nothing 
more is to be done except to tie a 
piece of raffia around the stem to 
keep the graft in place, and this must 
be removed as soon as adhesion takes 
place, which will be soon if the plants 
are kept in a warm moist house. 

CALADIUM. 

Most ornamental leaved hot-house 
plants that are grown entirely for 
their beautiful leaves, which are of 
almost every hue. Although strictly 
a tropical plant they are most useful 
for decorations in the months of Au- 
gust and September, after their 
growth is fully matured. They lose 
their beautiful leaves in the winter 
and must rest till the following March 
or April. 

There are several species, of which 
we all remember argyrites as one of 
the oldest and prettiest with its small 
silveiy marked leaf. The almost in- 
numerable varieties that are now cul- 
tivated are hybrids and surpass in 
beauty the original species. The tu- 
bers can be bought at a very reason- 
able price from any good commercial 
house. 

Their cultivation is easy. The tubers 
can be placed in 3 or 4-inch pots in 
March in a temperature of 60 to 65 
degrees. A little bottom heat will 
much help their starting. Water 
sparingly till they begin to root. When 
a few leaves are made they can be 
shifted on. A 6-inch pot will grow 
a fine specimen, but they are seen oc- 
casionally of immense size in 12-inch 
pots. Many will remember the dozen 
or more plants exhibited at the New 
York convention in 18SS from Woot- 
ton, Philadelphia. They were grand. 

While growing they should have our 
hottest houses, a little shade, a moist 
atmosphere and abundance of water: 
the pots should be drained so that 
water passes freely through. Liberal 
treatment as to size of pot is a re- 
quirement. The soil can be a good 
loam, rather coarse, with a fourth of 
leaf-mould and rotten manure. 

In October they show signs of going 
to rest and water should then be with- 
held, but not all at once. Keep the 
soil moderately moist till the leaves 
have about gone, when you can lay 
the pots on their sides under a bench 
in a warm house. A good many fine 
caladium Inilbs are lost from keeping 
them too dry in the winter, and some- 
times from wintering them too cold; 
CO degrees is cold enough for them 
and don't let the soil get dust dry; 
look at them every two or three weeks 
and if the soil is very dry give them 
a watering. In starting, of course 
you will shake off all the old soil. 
There is no need of mentioning any of 
the varieties, for their name is le- 
gion, and all are beautiful. 



40 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



C. Esculentum. 

Caladium esculentum is an impor- 
tant plant with the florist and it en- 
ters largely into his spring business. 
Every one knows this caladium, and 
some of our customers know it by the 
descriptive and artistic name of "Ele- 
phant's Ears." 

They are multiplied by the small 
tul)ers that are always found on the 
large ones, but at the low cost of a 
fuller the size of a base ball (and that 
is amply large enough) it will never 
pay a florist to grow his own bulbs. 
You cannot begin to raise them as 



three inches deep in which the bottom 
half is sifted decayed manure and the 
top half sand, pushing the bulb down 
till its top is little above the rim of 
flat, and the bulbs almost touching. 
Give them a watering and place the 
flats on the hot water pipes. You will 
save two or three weeks by this meth- 
od over starting them in the pots on 
a cold bench and will save much 
valual>le space. We plant them in 
the flats in time so they will be ready 
to pot off just after Easter when the 
pressure for space has been relieved. 
When taken out of the flats they 
have made a growth of five or six 




Calamus Ciliaris. 



cheaply as you can buy them from 
the man who grows an acre. If you 
have any plants on your own place 
and wish to save them, cut the stalk 
off a foot above the ground after the 
first frost, dig up, shake off all the 
soil and lay them on the ground under 
a rose-house bench, I have found the 
temperature and humidity of a rose 
house just right providing the ground 
is dry. 

When we receive the bulbs in the 
spring we cut out all the eyes and 
small tubers because we don't want 
them, and we cut off the remains of 
the old tuber close up to the new 
sound one. We put them in flats 



inches and are a mass of roots. They 
are then potted into 5-inch pots, or 
extra strong ones into 6-inch, You 
do not want them too large when bed- 
ded out, as the wind breaks them, nor 
too late or your customers will be 
disappointed; about eighteen inches 
high, with three leaves, will do. Any 
kind of rich soil will do for them in 
pots, with water ad libitum, and a 
light, dry house. When you are grow- 
ing your caladiums all houses are 
much alike as to temperature. 

To make the best effect in any posi- 
tion out of doors the ground should 
be dug deep, with plenty of manure 
worked in. Here is a plant that the 



coachman can water to his heart's 
content. I mentioned a bulb the size 
of a base ball, but that is the largest 
useful size. Tubers that are 1% to 
2 inches in diameter are large enough 
to make fine plants for summer use. 

We hear that the tubers of this cala- 
dium are cooked and eaten in the 
south. Its name implies that it is edi- 
ble, and its other name is Colocasia 
esculentum. 

CALAMUS 

The rattan palms, or calamus, in- 
clude twenty or more species of slen- 
der growing and very graceful palms 
that are found in a wild state in vari- 
ous portions of the tropics, chiefly in 
India or the East Indies. 

Some of the species become climbers 
in their native country, and are said to 
attain a length of stem of 200 to 300 
feet, and to trail over the tops of for- 
est trees in Java and Borneo, but the 
subject of our illustration is one of 
the smaller growing species, and not 
likely to outgrow its accommodations 
for a period of several years at least. 
Calamus ciliaris is a particularly 
graceful palm in a young state, having 
a slender, reed-like stem, and finely 
divided pinnate leaves. The leaves of 
this species are light green, the pin- 
nae narrow and arranged very closely 
on the stem, and the foliage is rather 
soft to the touch, owing to its being 
covered with short, hair-like bristles. 

C. ciliaris is essentially a warm 
house palm, flourishing in a tempera- 
ture of 70 to 75 degrees, with abun- 
dant moisture, its tropical jungle habi- 
tat giving us some idea as to its cul- 
tural wants. 

The leaves of this species being rath- 
er thin in texture, it is liable to at- 
tacks of red spider unless freely 
syringed and watered, but when well- 
grown is very attractive, and while 
not adapted for all trade purposes is 
a valuable and effective plant for spe- 
cial occasions, 

C, ciliaris suckers freely around the 
base, and by careful handling these 
suckers may be removed and estab- 
lished, but it is necessary to keep 
them rather close and warm for a time 
in order to encourage the new roots, 
and also to be careful that they are 
not allowed to get too dry. 

W. H. T. 

CALANTHE. 
See Orchids. 



CALCEOLARIA. 

There are few more attractive and 
showy greenhouse flowers than the cal- 
ceolaria, and although useless as a cut 
flower it is of great value as a green- 
house decorative plant, or as a window 
plant, lasting fully as long as a cine- 
raria and many other of our popular 
flowers. There are several species, 
both of the herbaceous and shrubby 
sections, nearly all from the west coast 
of South America and at a good eleva- 
tion, for calceolarias dislike great 
heat at any time of their growth. 

Little attention is paid to the spe- 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



41 



cies, the beautiful hybrids of the her- 
baceous section being what we are 
interested in. Seed can be obtained of 
any reliable seedsman that will pro- 
duce a great variety of beautiful 
flowers. Sow from June to end of Sep- 
tember. If wanted in bloom by March 
the earlier month is the time to sow, 
but they are difficult to have in bloom 
that early; if sown in September they 
can be bloomed the following May, and 
with less risk of failure than earlier. 
The seed is most minute and for direc- 
tions about sowing refer to chapter 
on that subject. Would say here that 
it should never be covered, a piece of 
glass over the seed pan being suffi- 
cient. 

When the little plants are large 
enough to handle place them in pans 
or pots an inch apart. When they are 
near touching each other put into 3- 
inch pots. By December they will be 
large enough to go into 5-inch pots and 
as they must be wintered cool they will 
not need another shift till the first of 
March, when they can go into their 
flowering pots, a 7 or 8-inch. 

Calceolarias are not so often seen in 
either the florists' windows or the pri- 
vate garden as their great beauty 
should warrant, and the reason is that 
although they cannot be called a diffi- 
cult plant to manage, they are easily 
ruined by neglect or mismanagement. 
The following conditions if faithfully 
observed will insure success. 

Watering: At no time must they be 
allowed to wilt for want of water, and 



of winter 40 degrees at night is plenty 
warm enough. In Europe they are 
largely grown in cold-frames. Here 
that is not as practicable, but from 
seed sowing till middle of November 
a cold-frame is much the best for 
them. Let them at all times be so situ- 
ated that they can have light, room 



nent one till they are near flowering 
time. 

Soil: A rather light loam, not chop- 
ped or sifted too fine, with a fourth or 
fifth of thoroughly rotted manure, will 
grow them well. If the soil is heavy, 
add sand to the manure. I am sure it 
pays well when they are in the larger 



^^fcljl^^^ 


^ 


^^M ^'-£^ ^>^ 






^^I^V^^s^ 








Herbaceous Calceolarias. 



like the cineraria must never be over 
watered or that will kill them: avoid 
extremes ijoth ways. No syringing is 
needed. 



to grow, plenty of fresh air and a low 
temperature. Bright sun coming sud- 
denly in early spring is liable to burn 
their leaves, so a temporary shade 



Temperature: In the dull, dark days should be provided, but not a perma- 



pots, the 5-inch and upwards, to drain 
with a few crocks and a piece of green 
moss. 

Insects: They are seldom troubled 
with any but the common greenfly, but 
to those the calceolaria is a choice 
morsel, and too often a fine batch of 
young plants is utterly ruined by 
them. Don't wait till you see the fly, 
but smoke mildly every week at least 
without fail, and till they are taken to 
the show-house should always have 
tobacco stems strewn among the pots. 
There is no feature in the cultivation 
of the calceolaria so important as this; 
never let aphis be seen on them. 

The shrubby section of calceolaria is 
used in Europe largely as a summer 
flowering garden plant. The writer has 
tried it here several times, but always 
with failure, and that I believe is the 
general verdict; our hot summer is the 
obstacle. As a flowering plant for the 
greenhouse they are not nearly as or- 
namental as the herbaceous varieties. 
The same cultural directions will ap- 
ply to them, excepting that they are 
usually propagated by cuttings, whicli 
root readily in the fall in a cool, shady 
frame. 

CAMELLIA. 

This once universally cultivated 
plant has gone largely out of fashion 
and for the last twenty years is neith- 
er seen nor spoken of. The cause is 
not far to seek. Our largest and best 
tea roses are as beautiful in form, of 



42 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



warmer tints of color and fragrant. 
Then again all cut flowers must now 
have their natural stem and that 
largely bars the camellia. There was 
a time which all older florists remem- 
ber in the first days of the use of elab- 
orate mechanically made designs, 
when camellias were indispensable, 
and more than one of us can remem- 
ber the request or order of our patrons 
of twenty-flve years ago: "Be sure to 
put in plenty of Japonicas." 

They are mostly all propagated by 
grafting the fine varieties on seedling 
stocks, or stocks raised from cuttings 
put into sandy soil in July and Au- 
gust in a cold-frame that can be kept 
shady and cool. The propagation is 
better left to the specialist, and the 
growing of camellias to the private 
gardener. Not because their cultiva- 
lion is at all difilcult, but because the 



only way to get them into bloom early 
is to start them growing in the spring 
early. At that time they will stand 
a good heat with plenty of moisture 
on leaf and root. As soon as they 
have made their growth and show 
the small flower bud on the end of 
the growth they should be kept as 
cool as possible during the remainder 
of the summer. The hot summer is 
what they don't like, and there is no 
better place in summer than out of 
doors in the shade of a building, or 
what is still better a summer house 
covered with lattice-work, which gives 
partial shade and coolness. They will 
do very well in winter in a tempera- 
ture of 40 degrees at night. 

When I say they are hardy in the 
south of England and the milder parts 
of Ireland you can form an idea as to 
their hardiness. 1 remember about 



CANNA. 

The canua was of old often called 
"Indian Shot" because the seed is ex- 
cellent as a charge for the shotgun 
when a stray dog is the game in view. 

Few plants have undergone such a 
change and improvement of late years 
as the canna. Thirty years ago cannas 
were grown almost exclusively for 
their handsome tropical foliage, but 
since M. Crozy introduced his wonder- 
ful hybrids the flower is of more im- 
portance than the leaves. Our sum- 
mers are admirably adapted to the 
perfect development of the canna, and 
as a decorative plant for our summer 
gardens it easily takes the front rank. 
Gorgeous beds are seen in the parks, 
cemeteries, private grounds, and even 
in the humble little garden of the day 
laliorer. In an S or 9-inch pot they 




demand, both for the plants and flow- 
ers, is too meager. 

In cool conservatories they make 
grand bushes planted out in the bor- 
der. The writer well remembers the 
day when it was his duty to jar the 
stem of a large double white camellia 
every morning when in flower and 
then rake up from the perfectly kept 
border hundreds of fallen petals, but 
that was in a climate more suitable, 
I think, for the camellia than this 
one. 

They like a good, strong yellow 
loam and should not be overpotted. 
The roots should be moist the year 
round and in the spring and early 
summer (their growing time) should 
have plenty of water and an occasion- 
al syringing. They can be had in 
bloom from October til) May, but en- 
dure no such thing as forcing. The 



Bed of Canuas bordered with Acalyphas. 

Ihe year 1864 a large plant of the 
"Lady Hume's Blush" that was badly 
covered with white scale. It was left 
out of doors all winter with the in- 
tention of applying the radical treat- 
ment of kill or cure. The camellia 
came through the winter unharmed. 
I forget whether the scale was killed 
or not. The scale is about the 
only pest that troubles the camellia, 
and that can be destroyed by washing 
with the kerosene emulsion. 

The hybrids that were raised from 
the several species are the most use- 
ful if you grow them at all. The sin- 
gle colored varieties are fine decora- 
tive flowers. I learn from a Philadel- 
phia firm that a great many camellias 
are now sold to go to the southern 
states. Where planted out they 
would be very fine. Last winter, how- 
ever, would about do them up. 



make grand plants for the decoration 
of a large conservatory, where you 
can see the fullest perfection of their 
grand flowers. 

Since the introduction of the Crozy 
type (or, as they are often called, 
"Flowering Cannas"), the old species 
and types whose leaves were the at- 
traction and flowers small and few, 
have sunk into desuetude and are 
rarely cultivated, because the newer 
varieties have not only splendid spikes 
of flowers but all the variety in color 
of foliage also. There is one of the 
old type still left that for effect of 
foliage I have never yet seen equalled 
by any of the large flowering ones. 
We call, it La Grande Rouge. It grows 
six feet high in any ordinary soil, has 
narrow, long, pointed leaves, in color 
a deep, almost purple, bronze, and 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



43 




Carludovica Atrovirens. (See page 44.) 



very upright habit. For the center of 
a large bed we don't know its equal. 

Our own American florists have 
raised many grand varieties, equal to 
any of the imported ones. The canna 
seems well adapted to our climate 
and environment. In the north in 
winter, outside the greenhouse, our 
vegetation is largely hibernating. The 
sombre pines keep green 'tis true, but 
we are without the broad-leaved ever- 
greens of the south. Our giants of the 
forest are bleak and bare and the 
snow-bird flies noisessly across the 
waste. Our woods are solemnly still. 
Our v/ild animals have scattered their 
seeds and herbaceous plants are cov- 
ered with their welcome overcoat of 
snow. Except for man and his neces- 
sities it would be a quiet scene. The 
bear slumbers in the hollow tree and 
dreams of honey: the squirrel stops at 
home and enjoys the fruits of his 
frugal care, and the marmot curls up 
in his deep burrow but peeps out In 
early March to see how prospects are, 
and about the time he takes his first 
peep is the time to sow canna seed. 
When spring once comes our vegeta- 
tion awakens and grows apace. Trees 
leave out it seems in a night, our 



woods and fields are clothed with leaf 
and blossom, and music is everywhere 
and free to all from the tireless throat 
of the frog and the sweet call of the 
meadow lark (which is not a lark at 
all, but a starling), and it seems to 
me that the quick and stately growth 
of the canna is in keeping with all this, 
and is our ideal decorative plant. 

Cannas come largely true from seed, 
and good plants can be raised by sow- 
ing in February for the following sum- 
mer's use. The seed is so hard that 
it is well to not only soak it in a bag 
suspended in hot water, which you 
can renew occasionally, but are all the 
better if you take each seed, held firm- 
ly by a pair of pincers and slice off a 
small piece of the hard covering of the 
seed. Sow in pans in three inches of 
soil, covering the seed half an inch 
or more. We place the pans on the 
hot-water pipes, which quickens the 
growth of the seed. When the plant 
is three inches high we remove it and 
start it growing in a pot; but don't 
throw away the contents of the pan, 
for there are always more to come, 
and they will likely keep straggling 
along for months. Grow the seedlings 
along in a light, warm house and by 



June 1st, which is planting time, they 
should be in 4-inch pots. 

The readiest way, and that by which 
all fine varieties are propagated, is by 
cutting up or division of the root. The 
old stools that have been stored all 
winter are divided in March. If the 
piece of root is three or four inches 
long, with one good eye or bud, it is 
large enough to make a fine plant. We 
place the pieces of root in three or 
four inches of sand and old hot-bed 
manure in flats about the middle or 
end of March and place the flcts on 
the pipes where the heat is not too 
violent. They start to root and grow 
immediately. 

By middle of April you have pre- 
sumably got rid of your lilies, etc., and 
can find room to pot off the cannas 
into 4 and 5-inch pots. They should 
have a light bench in a light house and 
no shade, but abundance of water, and 
by the first of June they will be fine 
plants, many of them sending up their 
first spike of flowers. 

Any soil that is one-third half rot- 
ten manure will do for the cannas. 
You cannot give them too deep or too 
rich a soil and they require a great 
abundance of water. They are usually 
planted 15 to 18 inches apart. 

When the foliage is destroyed by 
frost the tops are cut down to within 
six inches of the ground and the 
clump of roots lifted and removed to 
beneath a dry bench. On the ground 
beneath a carnation bench is an ex- 
cellent place, or anywhere the tempe- 
rature is between 40 and 50 degrees, 
but it must not be wet or they will 
start to grow. Neither must there be 
a drip; the latter is, I know from ex- 
perience, very bad for them, as the 
roots will rot. It is better when plac- 
ing them under the bench to put 
boards under them for the moisture of 
the soil, however dry it may appear, 
will start them growing. A root-house 
for the purpose, where dahlias would 
keep, would be the best place, but few 
of us have that, and beneath the 
benches is amply good providing you 
guard against drip on them. 

We always treat the canna as an her- 
baceous plant, and it is called so by 
high authorities, but in their tropical 



One of the larstest Stinh\ of.... 

Cannas 

In AMERICA nlll be round nt the 

COTTAGE GARDENS, 

QUEENS, N. Y. 

ALSO MANY 



0OVELTIES. 



,.. . In Greenhouse and 

W e have an o j j- ni 

unlimited quantitv Bedding Plants. 

of the very best soil 

for greenhouse work, as well as one of the most 
complete and best appointed greenhouse plants 
in existence. 



44 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



home they are by no means herba- 
ceous, spreading and growing and 
flowering the year round. You can 
lift, divide and propagate new and 
lare varieties the year round, and you 
van lift large clumps before frost has 
touched them and use them in decora- 
tions. 

It is difficult to pick out even a doz- 
en varieties, for new sorts are con- 
stantly appearing and what is con- 
sidered the finest this year may be 
eclipsed by seedlings of next year. 
Cannas that do not flower abundantly 
and hold their flowers well will not do 
for bedding, and those minus these 
qualities will soon be lost sight of. 
Italia and Austria, so beautiful as in- 
dividual flowers, are useless planted 
out as is most likely all that type. 
Some of the best bedders, if not new, 
are: 

Madame Crozy: Vermilion scarlet, 
bordered with golden yellow. 

Florence Vaughan: Fine yellow, 
mottled with crimson. 

Paul Marquant: - Salmon. 

Souvenir de Antoine Crozy: A 
grand variety; an improvement on 
Mme. Crozy. 

Tarrytown: Rich bright red. 

Trocadero: Deep crimson lake. 

Charles Henderson: Deep crimson. 

Egandale; Soft red; fine dark foli- 
age. 

President Carnot: Scarlet; dark 
foliage. 

Chicago: Vermillion scarlet; fine 
green foliage. 

President Cleveland: Orange scar- 
let; one of the best. 

Rose Mawr: Rosy pink. 

Klondike: Orange. 

Admiral Avellan: Orange scarlet; 
fine dark foliage. 

Papa: One of the best reds; im- 
mense spike. 

Madame Montefiore: A fine yellow, 
slightly spotted. 

And dozens of others. Test care- 
fully the new varieties as they appear, 
unless you have a chance to see a 
whole bed of them growing. 

CANDYTUFT. 

See Annuals. 

CAPE POND WEED. 

See Aponogeton. 

CARLUDOVICA. 

Though frequently considered among 
palms and grown with them, yet this 
handsome foliage plant is not a palm, 
being more nearly related to the pan- 
danus family. C. atrovirens has been 
in cultivation for many years, but does 
not appear to have become common 
in the trade on this side of the ocean, 
and as a matter of tact is seldom met 
with outside of private collections. 

C atrovirens is a steimless or nearly 
stemless plant of bushy habit, the 
leaves of which are bifid, plaited some- 
what like those of a curculigo, and 
very dark green, as indicated by the 
specific name. 

This plant grows freely in a warm 
house, and is not hard to please in 



the matter of compost, but makes 
more rapid growth in light, rich soil 
with good drainage, the latter point 
being the more necessary from the 
fact that an abundant supply of water 
is needed for its welfare. 

Propagation may be effected by seeds 
when these are obtainable, but more 
often depends on division, as C. atro- 
virens produces suckers freely, and by 
washing out the roots these suckers 
may be separated from the parent 
plant without difficulty, and soon be- 
come established plants. 

The carludovicas are said to be na- 
tives only of tropical South America, 
where a number of handsome species 
have been found, one of which, C. pal- 
mata, possesses additional interest on 
account of its leaves furnishing the 
material for the so-called Panama 
hats, those luxuries of summer dress 
that are unfortunately beyond the 
purse of the average florist. But we 
may be permitted tO' grow a plant of 
Carludovica palmata, and by exercis- 
ing the imagination we may see the 
patient South American native select- 
ing one large young leaf, carefully re- 
moving the stiff veins or ribs from it. 
then slitting it into narrow strips, and 
finally plating it into a shapely head 
cover without separating the strips at 
the stem end. Such ingenuity de- 
serves a proper financial reward, but 
in all probability the larger portion 
of the profit is secured by the Euro- 
pean or American hatter, who ulti- 
mately retails the product. W. H. T. 

CARNATION. 

If not the most important flower we 
grow, the carnation certainly stands 
next to the rose, both in area of glass 



devoted to its culture and value of the 
flowers sold. Of all our commercial 
flowers the type of carnations we grow 
are most distinctively American. They 
are very different from the tree carna- 
tion of Europe, which had the reputa- 
tion of being perennial bloomers there, 
but the flowers were few and far be- 
tween and had no such stems as our 
present day carnations. Nor are they 
like the garden carnations which come 
with a grand burst of bloom in June 
and July, but have no tendency to 
flower again for another year. It is 
certain that our strain inherits the 
blood of more than one breed, for 
seedlings often revert back to varie- 
ties that produce a strong growth and 
few flowers, and some again are crop- 
pers. 

The splendid varieties we have to- 
day have been produced not suddenly 
but by the slow operation of the law 
of evolution, aided by artificial selec- 
tion. The first carnations that I at- 
tempted to flower in the winter 
months were La Purite, carmine, and 
Edwardsii and President Degraw, both 
white, all very free bloomers, and the 
flowers were always used with short 
stems. If we had disbudded and picked 
the flowers with long stems I doubt 
whether they would be as free as many 
of our present varieties. 

Astoria was a pioneer among carna- 
tions and a cross between it and Ed- 
wardsii produced Buttercup, which was 
a wonderful flower in its day and 
which for years had no rival. From 
1S75 to 1885 there were no carnation 
specialists and the few varieties intro- 
duced during that time are gone and 
forgotten. About the latter date ap- 
peared Grace Wilder, the first of its 




Carnation Mrs. Geo. M. Bradt. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



45 




color (Scott is almost the same shade). 
Then Mr. Simmons, of Geneva, sent 
out his famous varieties, several of 
which were a great advance on exist- 
ing varieties and some of them are 
standard sorts today. Silver Spray, J. 
J. Harrison, Portia, Tidal Wave, and 
greatest of all — Daybreak — were sent 
out by him. 

To trace further the subsequent in- 
troductions would make too long a 
chapter. It is about ten years since 
the carnation was taken up and spe- 
cialized by many of our best horticul- 
turists with the result that we have 
attained what ten years ago would 
have been considered the absolute 
ideal. But who can tell what Dorner, 
Hill, May, Nicholson, Fisher, Ward or 
other enthusiasts will do. Size has 
been attained almost or quite to the 
desired point. Jubilee, Pingree and 
America have a two-foot stem of suf- 
ficient substance to hold their heads 
quite erect. 

Fragrance should be an attribute of 
all varieties. In color we have shades 
from deep maroon to purest white, and 
yet perhaps it is in color that the fu- 



ture promises most for the raiser of 
new varieties. I would say just here 
that when any good variety does well 
with you don't discard it till you are 
sure you can grow a better variety of 
the same color. 

There are few plants that accommo- 
date themselves so readily to a great 
variety of soils. Yet from quality of 
soils, or more likely methods of hand- 
ling, good gardeners fail with some 
varieties while entirely successful with 
others. 

Whether we have reached the limit 
in the improvement of the divine 
flower or not is a question that it is 
not at all essential to worry over be- 
cause we shall want the disseminator 
of new varieties always with us. 
Whether under our continuous winter 
culture varieties should gradually lack 
health and vigor is a question that has 
led to some controversy. We don't 
"force" carnations by any means, yet 
to a great extent we reverse the sea- 
sons, and propagating by cuttings is 
not raising a new individual as grow- 
ing from seed. We are merely divid- 



ing and perpetuating the old original 
plant. And my experience is that after 
eight or ten years a variety loses its 
vigor and Is a prey to all carnation 
diseases. And even it it did not it 
would be superseded by improved va- 
rieties. 

Propagation. 

In cultural hints the proper place to 
begin is with the cutting. Let me re- 
peat that the plants from which you 
take the cuttings have not been forced. 
They have been subjected to a lower 
temperature than that in which it 
would flower in its native habitat. So 
the plant is not exhausted, and there 
is no need of having any plants in a 
cold-frame to propagate from. No bet- 
ter material can be had than that 
from your flowering plants. 

Cuttings root readily from Novem- 
ber 1st to the middle of April, or even 
earlier or later, but except for special 
purposes, such as plants to flower in 
early summer, which can be propa- 
gated in November, or in case you are 
very short of a variety, from January 
1st to March 1st is the best time to 



46 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



put the cuttings in the sand. No spe- 
cial propagating house is needed. An 
ordinary bench such as you would 
grow carnations on, is as good as the 
most expensive arrangements and the 
temperature of the house can be just 
the same. Avoid a direct draught, 
either from a door or ventilator. Car- 
nations want the light and little shad- 
ing is needed during January and Feb- 
ruary. When the sun gets high enough 
to wilt the cuttings we tack cheese 
cloth up to the glass. That is far bet- 
ter than laying on and taking off news- 
papers. The cloth is heavy enough to 
shed the rays of the sun at any time 
and is far enough above the cuttings 
to give them sufficient light at all 
times. 

For the cutting bed three inches of 
coarse clean river or lake sand is suf- 
ficient. As a consolation to those who 
do not have lake sand near them I will 
say that for the past five years I have 



every day. If hot water or steam pipes 
run beneath the board bench, there is 
no harm done, but what we know as 
bottom heat is not at all essential in 
propagating carnations. 

In the early days of carnation grow- 
ing, before flowers were picked with 
long stems, we used for cuttings only 
the young growths from the bottom, 
those that would grow up and produce 
flowers, and I am not sure but what 
they make the finest plants. They 
are not, however, the quickest or sur- 
est to root. The propagator of large 
quantities, or those wishing to raise 
the largest possible number of a new 
variety, may take every green shoot 
that will make a plant or root. But 
that is not the way to perpetuate your 
plants for the best results. Cuttings 
should be taken only from the health- 
iest plants, and it will pay to also 
choose from the plants bearing the 
largest and best flowers, for like begets 




Bench of Carnation Cuttings. 



propagated in bank sand, containing 
even some loam in fine particles, and 
I have not lost on an average 5 per 
cent, of the cuttings, and in free root- 
ing varieties, like Scott and Day- 
break, none. There is little danger of 
the troublesome fungus among your 
carnation cuttings because the tem- 
perature should not be high enough 
for its vegetation. But as a preventive 
and for another reason we always 
water the sand with the ammoniacal 
solution before each batch of cuttings 
is put in. 

Watering is a matter of pure sense 
and judgment. If the glass is covered 
with snow, or the weather is dull and 
sunless, we water every three or four 
days. If the weather is bright and 
sunny, allowing plenty of ventilation, 
then every second day. And if you 
have occasion to propagate late in 
March the cuttings will take water 



like. The offshoots from the flower- 
ing stem make fine cuttings, but they 
should be taken not too low down, 
where they are hard and woody, nor 
too near the flower, where they are 
small and spindling. 

Some growers just tear off the cut- 
tings and put them in the sand as 
they are pulled off. I prefer to cut 
the smallest possible piece off the bot- 
tom. As to trimming the leaves, gen- 
erally the two lower ones are best re- 
moved. Shearing off the tops of the 
leaves does not hurt the cuttings, nor 
does it help them to root; it is done 
merely to allow you to get more cut- 
tings into the same surface of sand. 
The distance apart to place the cut- 
tings in the sand is merely a question 
of variety. Some need more room than 
others, but the cuttings should be at 
least one inch into the sand in straight 
rows, and the man that cannot draw 



with an old knife a perfectly straight 
line across three or four feet of propa- 
gating bed without the aid of a 
straight edge should be sent back to 
washing pots. 

In a temperature of 50 degrees at 
night the cuttings will root in 25 to 
30 days. They do not all root equally 
in the same time. Some cuttings (of 
roses for instance) are best potted up 
as soon as the roots have started out 
a fourth of an inch, but a carnation 
I would rather have with roots an 
inch long. I have occasion every year 
to put some in flats in two inches of 
sand and some in 2%-inch pots, and 
I see no difference in results in the 
field. The flats (mine are small, hold- 
ing only two dozen plants) are much 
the cheapest, requiring less care and 
being easier to handle than pots. 

After the first week from the sand 
they will be well rooted in the pots 
or flats and should be given full sun- 
light and plenty of air. As planting 
out time approaches you will have 
stopped firing in the houses, so a 
good light exposure there will do as 
well for the plants as anywhere, but 
if crowded for room a cold-frame is 
quite as good a place and even better 
as you can remove the sash entirely 
on mild days and thus prepare in 
the best way for planting in the field. 
We always like to have the plants 
early enough to have pinched or stop- 
ped them once before planting out 
time. 

Field Culture. 

Don't put off planting time. The 
carnation is not a tender plant; it is 
almost a truly hardy plant. In our 
latitude the end of April or very early 
in May is late enough. If you defer 
planting till end of May you have 
lost a month's growth. Perhaps no 
crop should be grown year after year 
for many years on the same spot. We 
know this is very wrong tor some, 
but we have grown carnations three 
consecutive years on the same ground 
and have not noticed the slightest ill 
effects. We use a light dressing of 
stable manure every spring and plow 
deep, not less than eight inches. 

We plant 12 inches between plants 
and 15 inches between rows and leave 
out every sixth row. Be sure to plant 
in straight rows both ways; that al- 
lows you to run your Planet. Jr.. cul- 
tivator both ways. This little cultiva- 
tor saves you lots of labor and does 
about all the work, yet two or three 
times during the season you must go 
over them with the hand hoe and 
loosen up the soil close to the plants. 
We don't hoe primarily to kill weeds. 
We hoe or cultivate to keep the soil 
loose, and incidentally we of course 
destroy all the weeds. After a heavy 
rain when the ground is just friable 
seems the best time of all to hoe. Then 
the operation is a pleasure and it's a 
blessing to the plants. You can al- 
most see them grow. Yet we do not 
always wait for a rain. In long dry 
spells in June, July and August we 
cultivate once a week. 



The FLORISTS' manual. 



47 




The last week in August I would call 
the ideal time. If it could all be done 
then so much the better, but the quan- 
tity handled compels large growers 
to extend the operation from Aug. 
15th to the first or second week in 
September. The question is often 
asked and discussed — "Is it best to lift 
carnations with a ball of earth?" It 
is a foolish question to an old carna- 
tion grower. If your soil is of a light 
texture it will be impossible to lift 
with any ball, and most undesirable if 
you could. If planted in a clay soil 
you must wait for a rain or thorough- 
ly soak the plants before lifting. Clay 
when wet is as friable as sandy loam 
and will drop off and leave the roots 
and fibers intact. We do not want to 
retain any of the soil that they occu- 
pied in the field, but we do want all 
the roots, and to preserve these we 
raise the plants with the aid of two 
digging forks, each on opposite sides 
of the plant and six or seven inches 
from the plant. It is a job you can 
work hard at, but it should not be 
done in a hurry. 

As soon as the plants are lifted and 
the soil shaken off the roots they are 
laid in flats and the flats carted to 
the door of the greenhouse and then 
carried to the planter so that the roots 
are exposed very little. It is not un- 



For years I practiced and preai bed 
watering when the plants were put 
out. Not surface watering, but a lit- 
tle water in the hole around the plant 
and then filling up with dry soil. That 
is the correct way to plant anything 
from a geranium to an oak tree; in 
fact the only way. But for the past 
two seasons we have not done that 
with carnations and never will again; 
there is no need of it. There is plenty 
of moisture in the ground and rising 
from its depths to keep the plants in 
good order till we get a rain. There 
is another great advantage in getting 
the plants out early. The weather 
is cool and you will catch the spring 
rains. I have always condemned wa- 
tering during summer under any con- 
ditions and know that it is unneces- 
sary and wrong. 

Stopping the plant by pinching out 
the leading shoots is one of the most 
important operations connected with 
carnation culture. If not stopped once 
before .planting out they will need it 
very shortly afterward. By stopping 
the leading shoots the intent is to pro- 
duce a greater number of growths. A 
few years ago we discontinued stop- 
ping the plants early in August and 
did not lift them till the end of Sep- 
tember. The plants would then be full 
of buds and we expected to go right on 
cutting flowers from the newly lifted 
plants. Such flowers as we then pro- 
duced would not sell at any price to- 
day. With hardly an exception (the 
Scott may be one) no carnation should 
show buds at lifting time. All flower 
bearing shoots should be made in- 
side, then you will get a fairly good 
stem and a clean flower. The plant 
should have its powers taxed as little 
as possible when undergoing the trans- 




Carnation White Cloud. 



planting from field to bench and the 
buds and flowers would be the great- 
est hindrance to a speedy and success- 
ful start under the new conditions. 

Transplanting. 

Large growers cannot fix any one 
week as the time for lifting, but have 
to begin early to get done in time. 



usual for us to just strike a very hot 
.«pell for this operation. I have been 
planting carnations more than once 
in the first week of September when 
the thermometer under the apple 
tree's shade was 90 degrees and under 
glass 110 degrees, but we did not 
postpone the work "on account of the 
inclemency of the weather." Oh, no. 



48 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



we kept right on, and I don't remem- 
ber of losing or injuring any plants by 
so doing. 

At the risk of being thought ego- 
tistical I will say that we do not lose 
any plants through transplanting. I 
have time and again noticed that in 
houses holding aljout 2,500 plants we 
have lost none up to the following 
May: in others, perhaps one plant. I 



I have had to listen more than once 
to an ex-farmer carnation grower who 
would inform me with pride and pleas- 
antry that his boy could plant four 
carnations to my one. The best an- 
swer to that is: "You don't say so!" 
with pleasure and surprise on your 
features. When you notice in a 
month's time that half of those "My 
boy planted" are dead or dying you 




A Bunch of White Carnations. 



have read of growers who thought 
they had fair success if they did not 
lose more than 10 per cent. A loss of 
5 per cent would worry us. When we 
consider the crude and ungardener- 
like way in which transplanting is 
done by some of the smaller growers, 
or men who have perhaps taken to the 
business after a failure at many other 
callings, it is no wonder that the loss- 
es are 10, or even 20 per cent. The 
great evil in this simple but impor- 
tant operation is that the beginner 
who is without a gardener's education 
attempts to attain speed before he has 
gained the knowledge "How to do it." 



are reconciled to your old slow ways. 
I am not by any means encouraging 
slowness (far from it), but learn to 
plant and pot and shift and tie prop- 
erly first, and then when performing 
any of these operations speed will 
never interfere with the quality of 
the work. 

The distance between plants on the 
bench will vary some with the varie- 
ties and also with the size of the 
plants. McGowan used to do with 
eight inches between the plants and 
ten inches between the rows. Scott 
and Daybreak, when fine plants, 
should be ten inches apart and twelve 



inches between rows. Two years ago 
it was very rainy and our carnation 
plants grew so fast during July and 
August that both the last mentioned 
varieties needed 14 inches between 
rows and by Christmas were quite as 
thick as health would allow. Your 
good sense must guide you in this. To 
plant too far apart is not economical, 
but it is better to err in this direc- 
tion than to crowd them overmuch, 
for that means mildew and rotting of 
the lower growths, a weakening of the 
whole plant and poor, weak flowers. 
I have seen them so closely packed in 
(because the owner had more than he 
needed and hated to see any perish 
in the field) that half the plants rot- 
ted and the rest were useless. . Air 
and daylight should have access to the 
plant on each side if you expect good 
flowers, and only fine flowers will re- 
turn a profit now-a-days. 

Twenty years ago we used six inches 
of soil in the bench and later five 
inches was found to be enough. I be- 
lieve that four inches is ample to 
grow any carnation, and some of the 
finest flowers we see at exhibitions 
are grown in less, but I would say 
four inches is about right. 

Carnations seem to do fairly well 
in a great variety of soils. Such 
sandy loam as they have on Long 
Island is undoubtedly the ideal for 
most of the varieties, but if properly 
handled a varied texture of soil suits 
them. Mr. W. N. Rudd, of Mt. Green- 
wood, 111., grows prize-takers in the 
fat prairie land of his state, and my 
neighbors, W. J. Palmer & Son, grow 
magnificent Daybreaks and several 
others in a stiff loam that is almost 
a clay. At the organization of the 
American Carnation Society in Phila- 
delphia there was a discussion as to 
renewing the soil annually in the 
benches. I was surprised to hear any 
one say that they grew them several 
years in the same old soil. We had 
never dreamed of such a thing, but 
always renewed the soil every sum- 
mer. Now that we have come down to 
only four inches of soil I would cer- 
tainly advocate a change of every par- 
ticle of soil annually. 

Our method is to plow up a piece of 
clover sod towards the end of May 
when the clover has made a good 
growth. We plow five inches deep 
and plow and cultivate this piece fre- 
quently during summer, and early in 
July spread the manure on the surface 
and plow it in, and then add the bone 
flour and harrow it in. We will most 
likely have had a rain before hauling 
in the soil and if so it may need an- 
other run over with the cultivator, 
which helps to distribute the manure 
and bone. It is then hauled to the 
door of the house and wheeled on to 
the benches or got in by the most 
expeditious method that you can de- 
vise. It should, however, be a wheel- 
barrow or small tramway and truck: 
the old hand-barrow is killing, and 
not fit work for bipeds, black or white, 
male or female. 

We try to get about a sixth or sev- 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



49 




enth of the well rotted stable manure 
into the soil. The horse manure is 
much preferable to that from; the cow 
stable. The bone should be of the best 
quality and very finely ground. What 
we know as bone meal is often too 
coarse and it does not dissolve in 
time for the plants to have received 
the full benefit of it. so we get the 
bone flour. A 5-inch pot of bone flour 
to an ordinary wheelbarrow of soil is 
not too much, but less may be needed. 
You can find out how much this is. to 
the square yard or rod. 

It is a fact that occasionally the fin- 
est of carnations are grown without 
the aid of any manures, either artifi- 
cial or animal; it has happened so 
with me. Last year, running short of 
bone, we used a grade of superphos- 
phate known as potato phosphate and 
the result was quite equal to that 
from the bone and it was much less 
expensive. Bone black is also excel- 
lent, and many gi'owers highly prize 
wood ashes. If I were unable to pro- 
cure both bone meal and the stable 
manure I would much rather depend 
on the bone meal or superphosphate 
and dispense with the animal manure, 
too much, of which produces a strong, 
but soft growth. For the different 
composts and their ingredients I must 
refer you to the reports of Professors 
Taft, Arthur and Bailey, or to our ex- 
pert growers like Dorner & Sons. 

To return to the planting. If the 



House of Armarindy Carnations. 

soil is very dry when put on the 
bench I prefer to give it a thorough 
soaking a day or two before planting. 
Make a wide hole with the trowel (but 
your hand is the best trowel) and 
spread the roots out in a natural way. 
Push in the soil on the roots, and I 
like to press the soil firmly around 
the roots, and be sure not to put the 
plant any deeper than it was growing 
in the field. Deep planting has killed 
lots of carnations. While you are mak- 
ing the hole, arranging the roots and 
filling in the soil with the right hand, 
the plant is firmly grasped, with its 
growth inside your fingers, by the left 
hand, so you can see that the plant 
is at the right depth, place and posi- 
tion, and is finished off neatly in every 
way. An earnest workman will do 
all this well and neatly much quicker 
than I can describe it. Some may 
ask what may be considered a good 
day's work for a man planting, sup- 
posing the plants are delivered right 
to his hand and other hands water 
them. I would be quite satisfied with 
1.500 in ten hours' work. Any f2ister 
than this would raise doubts as to the 
quality of the work. Soil, however, 
makes a difference, and an upright 
grower (like Scott) is quicker to han- 
dle than Daybreak, which is spread- 
ing. 

House Culture. 

The first week in the houses is the 
most critical time with the carnations. 



If you get them well established it 
will take a lot of brutal treatment to 
kill them, although continued skillful 
management is needed to insure best 
results. I am very particular about 
the first watering. It should be suffi- 
cient to thoroughly wet every particle 
of soil on the bench, and I am not 
satisfied till I see it dripping through 
the bottom of the bench. The quantity 
of water will depend upon the dryness 
of your soil when planting. We shade 
the first week after planting (and I 
think that is of great benefit) by sim- 
ply throwing some muddy water on 
the glass. A lump of stiff blue clay 
dissolved in a tub of water and the 
water thrown on by a tin dipper will 
answer every purpose. The rain soon 
washes it off and if you don't get a 
rain the hose will do it with little 
trouble. In a week, or at least in ten 
days, the new roots will be active in 
the benches and no more shade is 
wanted till the following May or 
June. 

If the weather is hot and windy I 
prefer to let the houses be hot rather 
than draughty. A cutting wind is bad 
for any plant when its roots are inact- 
ive, so keep the ventilators almost 
closed for the first few days, and if 
the nights are still give all the ventila- 
tion you possibly can then. You will 
see the carnations stand up in the 
morning as if they had grown there 
all summer. The cool night air is 



50 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



their salvation and the hot, dry air of 
daytime, is their severe ordeal. We 
throw water around the house and 
liglitly spray the plants for the first 
few days, and we believe (contrary to 
scientific exponents) that the plants 
are greatly benefited by so doing. 
After the first week, and the plants 
have taken hold, we ventilate all we 
possibly can day and night and entire- 
ly discontinue all syringing. 
No part of my endeavor to impart 



you can, day and night, till winter sets 
in. There are thousands of carnation 
houses throughout the country most 
inadequately furnished with ventila- 
tion. Get them altered, or grow some- 
thing else. 

In a week or ten days the second 
watering of the beds is needed, but no 
subsequent watering should be so copi- 
ous as the first one. To attempt to 
tell you how often a bed needed water- 
ing would be preposterous. If you 




Plant of Carnation Jubilee. 



my simple knowledge to the reader is 
done more earnestly than that regard- 
ing this fall management of the car- 
nation. It is during the months of 
September, October and November 
that so many promising houses of car- 
nations are ruined, and there are lots 
of them that have too little ventilation 
supplied them, and many growers don't 
avail themselves of the means of ven- 
tilation that they have. A strong, 
sturdy, healthy plant in the latter part 
of November will endure a lot of mis- 
management for the next three 
months, but a forced up, weak plant 
at that date will never repay you when 
the dark days come. Give all the air 



can't tell by sight or touch when the 
)ieds are dry and will take a watering, 
I might as well try to describe by 
words a sharp or a flat in music to an 
ear that cannot observe it when heard. 
You should not attempt to keep a bed 
or potted plant always at one degree of 
moisture. Extremes are bad, but it 
does not hurt to let them get slightly 
on the dry side or in that healthy state 
when a watering will be greatly ap- 
Iireciated by the plant. We try to keep 
the surface of the beds slightly loosen- 
ed up and entirely free of weeds at all 
times. 

Some growers tell us to keep the 
Ijeds free of weeds and "dry leaves, 



which should be removed." I am 
happy to state that we have not had 
occasion to remove any dry leaves 
for some years, and there is no oc- 
casion to have any if the plants are 
properly treated during the first month 
on the bench, particularly the first 
week. Some of our best growers clean 
the surface of the beds thoroughly in 
October and November and then put 
on a half or three-quarters of an inch 
of mulch, which feeds surface roots, 
prevents the drying out of the beds 
and the necessity of continually stir- 
ring the surface of the soil. It is an 
excellent plan. We prefer to do it, 
however, in February, as with our 
frequent snows and dark weather the 
beds dry out slowly. For the mulch 
we use rotten manure and loam, half 
and half, and before putting it on the 
bed we stir the surface and sprinkle 
on a good dusting of bone flour, cover- 
ing the bone with the mulch. If you 
are going to carry your carnations 
on into June or July this mulching will 
be of the greatest benefit. 

I don't think I have yet said any- 
thing about temperature. If a house is 
very light the day temperature is not 
of great importance providing it is 
high enough. It is certain that some 
varieties do better in lower tempera- 
ture than others. Daybreak flowers 
freely in a night temperature of 45 
degrees. Jubilee wants 55 degrees at 
night, or does very well at that, but 
50 degrees at night will be found to 
suit the great majority of varieties 
very well, and is high enough for any 
if first class flowers and a continuous 
supply is expected. All of them should 
go up to C5 degrees in the daytime, 
unless the weather is very cold and it 
is all fire heat; then stop at CO degrees. 
If the sun is shining let the house go 
up to 70 degrees; that is only the car- 
nation's natural temperature. Some 
growers attribute bursting of the calyx 
largely to a very uneven temperature; 
that is, letting the house get down 
some nights as low as 40 degrees or 
less. But this may be tbeory only. 
The nearer you can keep the house 
to 50 degrees at night and to 65 to 70 
degrees in the daytime, or noon, the 
better success you will have. A little 
ventilation should be given for a short 
time every day except in the very se- 
verest weather. On cloudy days when 
the outside temperature is perhaps 35 
to 40 degrees it is economy to fire up 
and give ventilation. 

Disbudding. 

Disbudding, which was practiced by 
few ten years ago, is now universally 
done by all growers. It seems a great 
labor, but when the expense is spread 
over every hundred carnations you 
pick, the cost is extremely small, and 
more than that, it is now an absolute 
necessity. Disbudding should be done 
every week. The buds develop very 
quickly, and thej' should be rubbed off 
when quite small, not left on till they 
are almost showing color, or disbud- 
ding will be of little avail. The object 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



51 



of disbudding is to have only one bud 
receive the whole strength of the 
shoot. If you allow two or three buds 
to share its strength till they are 
nearly full size you have done little 
good. 

Tying. 

The matter of tying is of the great- 
est importance and a considerable part 
of the expense of growing carnations. 
Thirty years ago and for many years 
thereafter nothing better was thought 
of than the primitive straight stick, 
and in the days of short-stemmed, or 
really stemless, flowers, it did very 
well. Now-a-days it is useless, and 
the advent of the long-stemmed flower 
has compelled us to use some better 
method. 

A great many devices have been 
thBught of and many arrangements 
in the shape of wire supports invented, 
mostly all useless. There is, however, 
one device of wire that seems pre-emi- 
nently ahead of anything yet invent- 
ed, and which it seems to me is about 
perfect. I do not say this to favor any 
manufacturer, but in justice to my 
readers must say that the support 
known as the "Model," made in 
Brooklyn, is about perfection. The 
immense quantities used by our larg- 
est growers is evidence of this. The 
straight, simple stake, the large stilt 



each row of plants crosswise two 
strings are needed, one against each 
row. The common white string used 
by grocers, which is very inexpensive, 
is good enough for this purpose. 

Each plant is then confined in a 
square made by the wire and string. 



its cost spread over three years would 
make it the cheapest of all methods. 

Insects and Diseases. 

Kor many years we had no pests to 
contend with except our common ene- 
mies, the aphis and red spider. A few 





Mr. DornerVMethod of Tyin^. 



wire, bent into a gigantic hairpin, the 
wire netting and many other schemes 
are good. 

The plan used first by Mr. Dorner, 
and now generally adopted, is very 
good, and with many varieties answers 
the purpose well. It is to stretch a 
strong wire (No. 14 or 16 j along both 
sides of the bench about six inches 
above the soil, and between each row. 
lengthwise of the bed, a lighter wire. 
Then from the two outside wires a 
string is run across the bed and near 
the plants, carrying the string around 
each wire as it is passed. Between 



To keep the wires from sagging you 
will want a lath across the bed at 
intervals, and strong wooden supports 
to fasten the wires to at each end of 
the bed. Another tier of this arrange- 
ment must be added as the plants 
grow, and with some varieties even 
a third will be needed IS inches above 
the soil. This plan answers every 
purpose, is very inexpensive, is quick- 
ly applied and altogether satisfactory, 
but it is not nearly equal in neatness, 
convenience, or for the growth of the 
plants as the "Model" support, whose 
only defect now is its first cost. But 



years ago the "Rust" was imported 
and became a great scare. Several 
other diseases were lectured upon, and 
the disease and its causes illustrated 
till we thought the cultivation of the 
carnation was doomed. 

Tobacco smoke destroys the aphis 
and a light fumigation should be often 
given. The fly is often very trouble- 
some to the buds. We have not seen 
red spider for several seasons, al- 
though never syringing. More air, 
more room, and perhaps the sulphur 
which is put on the heating pipes ev- 
ery fall, may have helped to prevent 
the spider from flourishing. If it does 
appear in May, syringing is the best 
cure, but it is difBcult to dislodge. 

The rust was a few years ago most 
discouraging. There are few varieties 
that it does not attack, but there are 
some; Flora Hill and Scott are two 
that I have never yet seen troubled 
with it. There have been many mix- 
tures advocated for its cure or preven- 
tion, chief of which is the Bordeaux 
mixture with which we sprayed the 
plants. Little heed is now given to 
any cure for the rust, many believing 
that the cure was as bad as the disease, 
yet the rust is disappearing, and 
troubles us little; not because we have 
killed the disease or its spores, but 
because we have better understanding 
of the conditions least favorable to the 
rust's existence, chief of which are ab- 
sence of moisture on the leaf, air and 
light between the plants, more and 
better ventilation, earlier planting and 
more vigor of growth. 

With the exception of dipping the 
cuttings before and after being in the 
sand we leave fungicides alone. We 



52 



T'-E FLORISTS' MANUAL. 




use the ammoniacal mixture for the 
purpose, but if you prefer the Bordeaux 
mixture you can obtain it in pulp form 
and dilute it as you need it. Benj. 
Hammond, Fishkill-on-Hudson. N. Y., 
prepares the pulp in convenient sized 
cans and saves you the trouble of mak- 
ing it. I believe that one pipe on each 
side of the house painted with sulphur 
is of great assistance in keeping down 
both red spider and rust. I saw this 
demonstrated in the case of a house of 
Daybreaks in my neighborhood. They 
were in a house formerly used for 
roses and overhead was a 3-inch flow 
pipe, which had been about covered 
with sulphur for the benefit of the 
roses. While several establishments 
on every side of this house had their 
Daybreaks black with rust not a grain 
of it appeared in this house, and this 
was for the three years during which 
the rust was most troublesome. No 
other preventive than this unconscious 
one was used. 

Varieties. 

It would be futile to mention or re- 
commend any particular varieties. 
Grow what you can grow best and that 
suit your soil best. Flora Hill and 
White Cloud are grand whites: G. H. 
Crane and Jubilee are fine scarlets; 
Mayor Pingree and Gold . Nugget are 
great yellows; Mrs. Geo. M. Bradt is 
a wonderful variegated flower, and so 
is Helen Keller when well grown; old 
Wm. Scott and Daybreak are still 
standards in many places. In pinks 
there is a host of new aspirants for 
favor and the most promising of all I 
have seen grown and flower and sell is 
The Marquis. In every shade, from 
the dark Gen. Gomez to the beautifully 
tinted J. AVhitcomb Riley we will have 
a chance to please our patron's fancy. 



An Exhibition of the American Carnation Society. 

Sub-Watering. 

Sub-watering, by Prof. Arthur's 
plan, with the watertight bench and 
bricks on edge is yet in the experi- 
mental stage. It seems to me almost 
impossible that saturated bricks can 
impart to the soil sufficient moisture. 
We must wait for further trials before 
going to any great expense in this di- 
rection. 



The method of sub- watering adopted 
and explained by Prof. Taft, of the 
Michigan Agricultural College, has 
proven a great success. He makes his 
bench nearly water tight by nailing 
sound boards or planks as tightly to- 
gether as possible and runs cement 
over the benches and between joints. 
In a .5 or 6-inch width of bench he lays 
two runs of common 2-inch drain tile. 
The last tile at the end is raised to 




Carnation Gold Nugget, 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



53 



Model Extension 
Carnation Support 



Now regarded as the Standard 
Support, and by far the best yet 
offered. 

It is only necessary to give a few 
of many testimonials from some of 
our best growers. 



i 







Buffalo. N. Y., Jan. 13, 1899. 
Theron Parker. 

Dear Sir: Your Model Carnation 
Support 13 the best thing I have yet 
tried. In fact, it is about ideal. I used 
it this winter onScotts. Flora Hill, Mrs. 
Bradt and Genesee. The principle is 
perfect but experience may teach us 
that in some varieties, for instance 
Daybreak, the lower ring might with 
advantage be two inches lower. If i 
could afford the first cost, at once, I 
would not think of using anything but 
the " Model." 

Very respectfully yours, 

William Scott. 



A lower 3d circle 
can be supplied 
for bushy plants. 



Mr. 



W. HoBOKEN, N. J., Feb. 18. 1897. 
Theron Parker, 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Dear Sir: It gives me much pleas- 
ure to congratulate you upon your success in getting up 
Carnation Supports. I think that those I have had from 
you are about as perfect as anybody will be able to 
make them. They certainly fill my bill for an ideal car- 
nation support, a thing I have been looking for for a long 
lime. Wishing you every success in the sale of them, I am, 
Yours truly 

E. AsMUS. 



? 9 



The MODEL Rose Stake 

is new and regarded by all who 
have Seen it as a decided improve- 
ment on the straight steel stake 
(We supply either.) It is so con- , 

structed as not to be dangerous in working among 
them, being looped at the top and pointed at the bot- 
tom. When supported by overhead wire this wire is 
passed through the loop and they do not require tying. 

The MODEL Plant Support 

is new and designed to supplant the old wooden stake, 
being superior in every respect. A firm anchor, neat, 
even ornamental, durable, cheap. (Patented.) 

The MODEL Extension Circle 

for Christmas Wreaths It is 

crimped and facilitates firm tying. 
Is quickly reduced from 16 inches 
in diameter to any smaller size 
needed. Is neat and cheap as one 
could wish. 



Model 
Extension Circle, 



Model Model 

Rose Stake. Plant Support. 

In offering our products to the trade, we are convinced that there is noth- 
ing yet produced to equal them, or likely to be, and shall be pleased to receive 
correspondence in regard to them. Samples forwarded free to all who wil) 
pay express charges, and will deduct this on first order, 

THE MODEL PLANT STAKE CO. 

THERON PARKER, Mgr., Inventor and Patentee. Nin'th'iireet. BROOKLYN, N. Y 



the surface so that the hose can be 
put in when watering is needed. The 
water runs through pipes and out at 
every joint, thoroughly wetting the 
soil. This is real sub-watering. 

Every 50 feet there should be the 
means of supplying the drain tile with 
water, and do not expect the water to 
run too far, as you might overwater 
near the inlet and leave the further 
end on the dry side. This plan has 
given the best results, and its advant- 
age in spring and summer can be easily 
seen, as then is the time the rcots want 
a soaking, and for applying liquid 
manure it is excellent. There is no 
wetting of the foliage nor baking of 
the surface by heavy overhead water- 
ing. This plan of sub-watering is 
worthy of trial by all of us. 

Houses. 

When the carnation first became an 
important flower with \is any house 
was used to grow them in. Now thou- 
sands of houses are built expressly for 
the purpose. There is none better than 
a 22 foot house (22 feet from outside 
to outside of posts). This will give you 
three benches, each 5 feet wide and 
four paths, each 1% feet wide, with 
heating pipes on the side wall where 
there is no contact with the plants. 
The ridge should rUn east and west, or 
better still, northeast and southwest. 
Ample ventilation should be given by 
continuous ventilating sash on the 
south side of ridge and in both walls. 



CARNATIONS 

FIELD-GROWN PLANTS 

Are one of our specialties. 
Send for price list. 

J. L. DILLON, Bloomsburg, Pa. 



This side ventilation will be of the 
greatest benefit in fall and spring. 

Some growers prefer to plant in solid 
beds on the ground. It may save ma- 
terial, and in late spring they don't 
dry out so fast, but the benches pro- 
duce quite as fine fiowers and are 
much more convenient to work. And 
liquid manure can be applied to the 
benches easier and with better results 
than to the solid beds. 

CELOSIA. 

Celosia cristata (the cockscomb) is 
not as often or generally seen as its 
striking and novel appearance de- 
serves. It is seldom seen in our 
greenhouses, perhaps because when at 
its best the glass structure is a hot, 
sweltering place, August and Septem- 
ber being its usual time of flowering. 
Our hot summers suit the cockscomb 
as it does all of the celosias, for they 
like heat. Last year we saw a large 
oval bed, the surface of which was 
covered with Tom Thumb sweet 
alyssum, and every two feet was dot- 



THE COTTAGE GARDENS, 

QIEENS, N. Y. 

(LONG ISUNDi, 

carry at all times the finest and most 
select line of Seedling 

Carnations 

in the world. Rooted Cuttings and Field 
Grown Plants of the best standard sorts. 

Strong, Vigorous, 

Well Grown Stock. 

AMERICAN ROSE CO. 

SPECIALISTS IN 

Carnation Seeds and Plants, 

CONTRACTS Solicited for 

PEDIGREE SEEDS. 

WASHINGTON. D. C. 

iv!^. Hybrid Carnations, 

Crossings between Remontant and Marguerite 
varieties. They are what we can recommend 
as truly summer tiowering varieties. Offered 
for the tirst time. For particulars address 

C. EISELE, 

nth and Jefferson Sts.. PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



54 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



ted in a cockscomb. It was a "pin 
cusliion" bed, and very striking and 
pleasing it was. 

When to be used as a bedding plant, 
sow seed of this celosia in March, and 
as soon as the little plants can be 
handled transplant into flats one inch 
apart. When still larger they should 
be shifted into 3-inch pots, from which 
they can be bedded out. 

If grown as a pot plant, shift from 
the 3-inch to a 5-inch pot, which is as 
large as they should have, or a 6-inch 
at most. In growing a specimen in a 
pot, the prime object is to get a fine, 
broad head on a very dwarf plant, and 
it is almost impossible to attain per- 
fection unless they are grown in hot- 



pots, but here our summers suit them 
finely out of doors. They can be plant- 
ed out in the border after all danger 
of frost has passed. 

Celosia pyramidalis makes- a fine 
plant. It grows 18 inches to 2 feet 
high and should not be planted closer 
than 1-5 inches apart. 

C. Huttonii has very beautiful red 
spikes of flowers and crimson foliage. 
It is worth lifting and growing in 
pots. 

CENTAUREA. 

The plants the florist grows under 
this name are both white and silvery 
leaved plants. 

C. candidissima (this I think should 




Cockscomb (Celosia Cristata.) 



beds, with their heads near the glass. 
When the heat of the bed is entirely 
gone, shift and remove to a fresh one. 
They like heat at the roots as well as 
at the top. When growing freely, and 
particularly when forming their im- 
mense "combs," they must never be 
stunted from lack of water; and from 
the time they are in 3-inch pots, to 
insure a more even moisture at the 
roots the pots should be plunged. They 
want little shade, and that not till the 
end of May; then it should be only 
during the hottest hours of the day. 
Their successful culture can be sum- 
med up thus: A very rich soil, abun- 
dance of water, perfect light, and a 
warm, humid atmosphere. 

Pew insects trouble them. If aphis 
appears, manage to give them a mild 
smoking, even if they are in a frame. 
A cockscomb poorly grown is a very 
commonplace plant, but when done to 
perfection it is a wonder. 

Besides C. cristata there are other 
celosias that are very handsome for 
the mixed border. In Europe they 
are grown for indoor decoration in 



be ragusina) is a very fine, silvery 
leaved plant and was once more large- 
ly grown than at present. Its fine 
entire leaf was grand for the edge 
of beds or long ribbon borders. 

It is an almost hardy plant and ex- 
cept when being propagated requires 
but little heat in the winter time. One 
reason why this good bedding plant is 
not more often grown is that it has 
the bad habit of rotting off in summer 
and leaving an unsightly gap in the 
bed or border. 

If raised from seed sow not later 
than September and grow along on a 
light, cool shelf all winter. By bed- 
ding out time you will have a plant 
in a 3-inch pot, which is none too 
large. If propagated by cuttings lift 
a number of old plants in October. A 
good many of the old leaves can be 
shortened or cut away. During winter 
cut up the old plant, from which you 
will get a number of cuttings. They 
are really more nearly divisions or 
offshoots. They root with ordinary 
care in the sand, and must be grown 
on cool and light. 



C. gymnocarpa, the kind with divid- 
ed, feathery leaves, is not as clear 
and distinct a bedding plant, ibut is 
more generally useful. It is used large- 
ly in our vases and veranda boxes as 
well as for the edging of large beds. 

It is always raised from seed, which 
sow in flats in ,Ianuary. They should 
be grown on light and cool, but not 
starved for want of pot room. A hot- 
bed makes them jump, but produces 
too rank a growth. By middle of April 
they should go into a 3 or 3V2-inch 
pot and be plunged in a cold frame 
where they will make sturdy, useful 
plants. 

CHEIRANTHUS (WaU Flower.) 

If it were not for seeing a plant of 
this old favorite perennial occasional- 
ly in our public markets we would 
forget them entirely. The Germans 
have raised; some fine strains of these 
most fragrant flowers and their peo- 
ple are always fond of them. 

If you buy seed of the best double- 
flowered strain you will be sure to 
get some singles among them. The 
prevailing colors are red, brown and 
.yellow. Were it not for its odor the 
flower would not be highly prized, birt 
few flowers have a fragrance that 
pleases everybody as does the wall 
fiower. 

For the border the seed can be sown 
in August and the seedlings planted 
out in a cold-frame, protected during 
winter and transplanted to their per- 
manent quarters when the ground is 
dry. 

For raising in pots sow in April and 
May and plant out in the open ground 
in .June. Lift in October and winter 
them in a well protected cold-frame, 
or better yet, in a very cool house, 
where they will throw up their spikes 
of flowers in May or earlier. 

CHRYSANTHEMUM. 

For a hundred years the chrysan- 
themums have had periods of great 
popularity and then of neglect. Per- 
haps it would be safe to say that with 
the American public the tide of pres- 
ent popularity is now just at the fiood 
and the craze of 10 years ago has 
slightly subsided, yet not to any great 
extent. There is no longer a dozen 
firms each sending out a new set an- 
nually at Klondike prices, for which 
We must be devoutly thankful. An 
aspirant for public favor now must be 
about perfect and a slight advance on 
preceding kinds. A few new ones 
each year is an abundance and even 
those are offered at a price that allows 
us to give them a trial. We do not be- 
lieve that chrysanthemums will ever 
drop from public favor, as say for in- 
stance the camellia, for it has many 
noble attributes to make it annually 
welcome. The perfection to which they 
are now grown is something former 
generations knew nothing of and the 
flower-buying public of 30 years ago 
was so insignificant compared with to- 
day that it could be truthfully said to 
be non-existent. 

The commercial florist is interested 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



55 




Exhibition Chrysanthemum Plants. 



mostly in the cut blooms and in a 
much smaller extent in a medium sized 
plant in a pot. Cultural directions for 
both will be found below. The stand- 
ards and large specimens are left to 
the private gardener who has time, 
money and space. 

A Commercial Flower. 

Take note during flowering season 
of varieties wanted for your next sea- 
son's crop and remember that if few 
varieties are grown it simplifies labor 
and expense, and there are so many to 
choose from that color, form and sea- 
son can be all covered by varieties 
that you have found easy to grow. 
Select plants for future stock that 
have produced the best flowers, mark- 
ing them before the flowers are cut. 
Lift sufficient plants and place them 
in flats, keeping them after first water- 
ing rather on the dry side in a cool 
house until time to start them grow- 
ing to produce cuttings. Do not use 
any weak shoots for cuttings. Throw 
them away, it will afford room for 
the stronger to develop. Chrysanthe- 
mums root readily in sand or finely 
sifted coal ashes in an ordinary pro- 
pagating bed until end of May or early 
June. After that date you will be 
more successful with a bed in a cold 
frame, shaded with cloth, lath or shad- 
ed glass, tilted back and front to in- 
sure a free circulation of air: and the 
bed must be kept copiously watered; 
this is very important. You often see 
chrysanthemum cuttings drying and 
wilting in June and July. They have 
been allowed to get dry or the sun has 
been shining on them, so water copi- 
ously twice a day in fine weather. 

The best time to propagate varies 
with the different varieties and the 



size of flowers wanted. For large long 
stemmed flowers of early varieties, 
such as Ivoiry, Bergmann, Bonnaffom 
(Bonnaffon can be grown early) and 
other dwarf sorts, February is not too 
early to put in the first batch. From 
that time on propagating can be con- 
tinued until August. For late flowers, 
many of the free growing varieties do 
well and produce fine flowers on side 
benches from late cuttings. Those 
propagated as late as August can be 
planted on the benches direct from 
propagating bed without any potting, 
and will grow from the start it kept 
sprinkled and shaded for a few days 
during the hottest hours of the day. 
Earlier rooted cuttings that have to 
be potted will want a 2 or 2io-inch pot. 
Let them be well rooted before pot- 
ting. Use a moderately heavy soil and 
not too rich. When well hold of the 
soil in the pots a side bench of a car- 
nation or violet house will suit the 
young plants of most varieties finely, 
always giving them as much air as 
possible and room to grow without 
drawing up. The earliest struck batch- 
es will require a 3 or 3%-inch pot be- 
fore planting out time. Some of our 
finest varieties which have a tendency 
to produce a flower larger than the 
stem can hold erect will be greatly 
benefited by having three or four 
weeks out of doors before planting on 
the bench. Such varieties which are 
weak necked should be grown slow 
and hard wooded and should never 
from the time they are rooted be al- 
lowed to attain a soft, rank growth. 

The early varieties should be plant- 
ed on benches in four inches of soil: 
raised benches with good drainage will 
enable you to control the growth and 
ripening of the wood. The late varie- 
ties are all right in solid beds, provid- 



ing the texture of the soil and drain- 
age is right. 

A heavy, free loam that the water 
will pass through freely, with the ad- 
dition of one-fifth of rotted cow ma- 
nure and a liberal sprinkling of pure 
bone flour will be an excellent com- 
post. A "liberal sprinkling" is rather 
indefinite, so I will say one pint to a 
bushel of soil can be used safely. If it 
were mixed with the soil a month or 
two months before planting, so much 
the better. The chrysanthemum is 
called a free and even rank grower, 
but over rich soil produces very large 
soft flowers. The flowers produced 
on a soft forced growth are in poor 
condition to withstand the handling 
they have to undergo before they 
reach the retail counter and to pro- 
duce durable, firm flowers a well ma- 
tured growth of the wood is as neces- ' 
sary as is a good, dry house and abun- 
dance of fresh air. 

This unnaturally stimulated growth 
may not be the whole cause of the 
rust, which is fatal to some of our best 
varieties, but it is certain that it puts 
the plant in an excellent condition to 
be attacked by the disease. The rust 
usually appears in September and lat- 
er when there is promise of great 
flower buds. It is then that we are 
subject to great changes of tempera- 
ture. It the growth is soft it is due to 
either too rich a soil or toO' much 
water at the roots or even too much 
moisture in the house, produced by 
water not draining off freely under the 
paths and benches. 

That grand variety Golden Wedding 
has been grown in the neighborhood 
of Buffalo since its introduction. We 
hear of its failure in many places, but 
where there is no stagnant water in 
the house, and the roots have received 
it sparingly, and planted in a soil that 
water passes freely through, I have 
not seen a vestige of disease on it. 
This grand golden yellow will hold its 
own with any new varieties, particu- 
larly when the grower will learn to 
withhold water. It cannot be done 
right in a soil that the water does not 
pass freely through. 

To sum up this particular point, en- 
courage a free growth till buds are 
selected, then gradually withhold wa- 
ter which matures the wood and as- 
sists bud formation. To the inexpe- 
rienced let me say that no serious 
check in growth must be given but 
merely less water than formerly, 
which will firm the growth. 

For early varieties, where crown 
buds are used, care must be taken not 
to resume free watering until the buds 
are well formed, otherwise we will not 
get perfect flowers, but many unsala- 
ble ones. After the buds are well form- 
ed the judicious use of animal manure, 
either in the shape of a mulch or li- 
quid, is safe and beneficial. I prefer 
to apply in a liquid form, as we can 
keep better track of the condition of 
the soil. 

While a free circulation is at all 
times necessary as well as keeping the 



56 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



house dry, from the time the buds 
show color till the flowers are cut, a 
gentle fire heat should also be put on 
as soon as we get cool, damp weather 
and the ventilators kept open day and 
night as long as possible. A sprink- 
ling o£ air slaked lime at intervals 
through the growing season under the 
benches and walks will keep the at- 
mosphere sweet and help the plants. 

The chrysanthemum is afflicted with 
most of the plant enemies we have to 
contend with. The black, yellow and 
green aphis can be kept down with a 
moderate but regular smoking, but 
make sure to clear them of all aphis 
before the buds are far advanced. 
Thrip and red spider sometimes make 
their attacks during hot spells, but 
can be kept down by a proper use of 
the hose. 

When the young plants are set in 
the soil of the bench give them a thor- 
ough watering to settle the soil around 
the roots. Plant all varieties firmly. 
For tall growing sorts Inclined to 
weak stems, a uniform pounding of the 
soil after the plants have made new 
roots will make the root action slower 
and stronger and the stem will be 
correspondingly stronger and shorter 
jointed. 

Be always very careful when water- 
ing, particularly with the early varie- 
ties, and a good look over the bench 
before you begin will make you aware 
of spots in the bed that may go an- 
other day or two. I have often no- 
ticed that where all parts of the bench 
were watered alike, the outside rows 
came into flower considerably, earlier 
than the interior plants. The outside 
rows getting more light and air dry 
out quicker, thus hastening bud forma- 
tion. By care in keeping the bench 
at an even degree of moisture you can 
bring in a crop evenly, which is a 
consideration both as to price you get 
for your flowers and your ability to 
clean up the bench for succeeding 
crops. Syringe during the growing 
season once or twice a day, as the 
weather may require, but always al- 
low the foliage to dry before night. 

In using liquid manure do not apply 
when the soil is very dry- If applied 
after a moderate watering there is less 
danger of over feeding and feeding 
should be discontinued entirely after 
the flowers show color. In concluding 
these rather lengthy remarks on wa- 
tering I will say when you do water 
be sure that it is enough to wet the 
soil clear through to the boards of the 
bench or bottom of the pot as the case 
may be. When you have acquired the 
science of watering and practice it 
carefully, wisely and faithfully you 
will have gained about 17 points out 
of 20 towards being a good gardener. 

August the 10th is as early as it is 
generally advisable to take the buds of 
the earliest varieties and those will be 
"crowns." In taking or selecting buds 
the side growths must be taken out as 
soon as large enough to rub off with 
the thumb and the plants kept quiet 
until the buds are well formed. The 
crown being an unnatural bud re- 



quires considerable care to insure its 
producing a perfect bloom. Terminal 
buds are the safest and in most varie- 
ties produce the best flowers, while 
crowns are earliest and should be used 
for that purpose, if properly under- 
stood. 

All flowers should be cut and placed 
in water at least 18 hours before being 
put on the counter or shipped to the 
retailer. Varieties that easily drop 
their petals, as some of the most beau- 
tiful do, and yet desirable, should be 
in water 36 hours. This will harden 
the flowers and hold the petals. If the 
flowers are to be shipped it is time 
well spent to pack with the greatest 
care so they arrive at their destina- 
tion as perfect as when they were cut. 

I know of no better way to tie or 
support the stems of chrysanthemums 
than by running wire across the bench 
near every row and a corresponding 
wire above the plants, keeping the up- 
per wire well up. From the wire on the 
bench to the one above run a string 
for every plant. The cheapest string 
you can buy is good enough. This is 
easily disposed of when the crop is cut. 
You may throw away the bottom wire 
but the upper one is not likely to be 
in your way and will do duty for sev- 
eral years. Anyone adopting this plan 
will never again resort to stakes of 
any kind, unless it is for late struck 
batches on side benches. 

Chrysanthemums can be planted 
much closer than they often are, but 
that will depend on how many flow- 
ers you intend to grow to each plant, 
and that again is controlled by what 
your trade demands. Three at the 
most is all you should expect from any 
plant, and I believe it most satisfac- 
tory all 'round to grow but one stem 
and one flower on any plant, and then 
plant thickly. The rows S inches apart 
and the plants 6 inches apart in the 
rows will do for all the moderate-sized 
flowers; for very large specimen flow- 
ers, 10x8 would be better. 

Pot Chrysanthemums. 

For several years the demand for 
these has not been at all satisfactory. 
I believe there is only one way to 
profitably grow a moderate-sized, 
healthy pot plant, that will keep its 
foliage and really be respectable in 
November. Choose healthy, young 
plants, that have been propagated in 
April. If they have been stopped once 
and are in 3-inch pots, so much the 
better. By the middle of June you will 
have some vacant benches to spare 
by the clearing of bedding plants, or 
you may throw away a bench of car- 
nations. Five or six inches of soil on 
the bench will do. and even if it has 
grown carnations the previous winter, 
is good enough, with the addition of 
bone flour and a little rotted manure. 

Plant 15 to 18 inches apart. They will 
make a fine growth during summer 
and should have all their growths 
stopped at least twice before lifting. 
You have them under perfect control 
by this method, and can keep them 



watered and syringed, as well as keep- 
ing the aphis subdued. The first of 
September, neither three days before 
nor after, is the time to lift them, 
which should be done with a digging 
fork, and by getting the fork down flat 
on bottom of bench you need not lose 
a fiber. These plants grow a great deal 
after lifting, so don't crowd them into 
too small a pot. We find a 6, 7 and 8- 
inch suits the different varieties. A 
few days of shading and a frequent 
syringing and they will have taken 
hold of the new soil, when you must 
give them a light, airy house. 

These plants on an average have 12 
to 20 buds, each branch disbudded to 
one flower. Most of them can be tied by 
one stake in the center and thread or 
raffia leading to each branch; larger 
plants, such as Lincoln always makes, 
will require several stakes; but let 
them be always small and inconspicu- 
ous. Only a few varieties are adapted 
to this purpose. The short jointed, 
dwarf varieties are the ones, and of 
all varieties that I have tried. Ivory 
and Lincoln are the ideals. Maud 
Dean is pretty fair, and so is Bonnat- 
fon. 

CINERARIA. 

What florists understand when we 
speak of cinerarias are those which 
have originated from C. cruenta. The 
hardy species, although acceptable 
plants for the herbaceous border, 
where hardy, are not of much value to 
the florist. Since the introduction of 
the cineraria, or rather since its com- 
mon use as an ornamental plant in our 
greenhouses, a wonderful improve- 
ment has been made in size, color and 
form of flower as well as in the habit 
of the plant. They are of easy culture 
and it may be said that any glass 
structure, where it does not actually 
freeze, will grow cinerarias. But like 
many other of these soft wooded 
plants which can be called "a cheap 
plant and easy to raise" a slight mis- 
take or neglect will ruin the whole 
lot. A palm or an orchid will be much 
less liable to permanent injury by ne- 
glect or mismanagement, for what is 
a cineraria but an abomination unless 
it has broad, stiff, healthy leaves, and 
if it has those it will be sure to have 
a handsome head of flowers. 

It is quite possible that some choice 
varieties are still perpetuated by cut- 
tings, as they commonly were years 
ago. but that with the American glow- 
er is never thought of, neither is it at 
all necessary, for a fine strain is 
readily produced from seed supplied 
by our leading house.s. Double varie- 
ties were also a novelty a few years 
ago and supposed to be a great ac- 
quisition, but the cineraria, like some 
other florist's flowers, is not in the v 
slightest degree enhanced in beauty, 
either as an individual flower or as a 
decorative plant by its being double. 
It is simply a monstrosity and the 
craze for the double varieties has van- 
ished. 
If flowering plants are wanted by 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



57 



FINE STRONG YOUNG 

Plants of all the leading 
Novelties in 

Chrysanthemums 

as well as the best standard va- 
rieties, can always be obtained 



in season at 



THE COTTAGE GARDENS, 
QUEENS, N. Y. 

We grow florists' plants in large 
quantities, and grow them well. 

C hrysanthemum ^ 

OF EVERY DESCRIPTION 

Disseminators of 
Choice Seedlings 
and Importers of 
the best European 
Novelties 

Catalogue Free on Appllcalloii. 

NATHAN SMITH & SON 

ADRIAN, MICH. 



November and the holidays, you must 
sow at end of May or early in June. 
Except on private places this is not to 
IjB recommended. For the commercial 
tlorist they would not be very profit- 
able for they are a troublesome plant 
to carry through the hot months and 
the bulk of your customers are not 
ready for them till February, March 
and April. It is well to make two sow- 
ings, the first early in August, the lat- 
ter the middle of September; the last 
sown will usually come in right for 
Easter. The seed is not so small but 
what it can have a slight covering; 
finely sifted leaf mould or sand will 
do, and keep uniformly moist till the 
seeds are up. 

When they have made a small char- 
acter leaf, transplant into a flat or 2- 
inch pots. From this time on they 
must be shifted on as they need it. 
uever by any means allowing them to 
become stunted for want of larger 
pots. After they leave a 3-inch pot the. 
soil should not be sifted. If it is a 
little rough or lumpy so much the bet- 
ter. I have seen hundreds of cinerari- 
as in 4 and 5-inch pots die, not with a 
slow death but suddenly droop and 
die. and the cause was a close adhesive 
soil through which the water did not 
pass freely. They may not be a. profit- 
able plant, but if worth growing at all 
will surely pay to grow well. They 
must have room to spread their leaves, 
and until flowering time 40 degrees at 
night will suit them better than a 
higher temperature. You will often 



hear instructions given to "keep plants 
near the glass," in other words this 
means light. They must have light, 
room to spread out, a cool tempera- 
ture, and although a stagnant state of 
the soil is fatal to them should never 
be allowed to wilt from dryness or 
they will lose some of their best 
leaves. After light, air and a low tem- 
perature, the remaining great object 
to watch in their successful culture is 
never let a greenfly be seen on them. 
Fumigate regularly and faithfully. 

Those that are summered over do 
much the best in a pit or cold-frame, 
but it should be deep enough so that 
when ventilation from the raised 
sashes is given it should pass over 
their tops and not be playing too free- 
ly on their soft leaves. Specimens can 
be given an S or 9-inch pot. but the 
commercial florist will find that a 6- 



the root of any strong growing vari- 
ety. The florist buys his clematis and 
is more interested in knowing how to 
make them grow satisfactorily than 
how to propagate them. Very strong 
plants of Jackmanii and other large 
flowering varieties are imported every 
fall, arriving here early in November 
or perhaps a little earlier. They have 
usually a good growth with a great 
bunch of roots. Thousands of these 
are sold and thousands die, and pro- 
vokingly after living one or two or 
more years. 

We spread out the roots and lay 
them in trenches in the qold-frame 
during winter and in severe weather 
cover with glass, removing it before 
they get anyway forced by the suns of 
March. We believe they are more 
satisfactory to our customers planted 
this way than potted and given any 




Cineraria. 



inch will flower them sufficiently well. 
I have seen some growers pinch out 
the leading flower shoot to induce a 
broader head of bloom. If grown cool 
and light this is entirely unnecessary. 
It is seldom that cinerarias are 
troubled with thrips or red spider, but 
a dusting of water in summer and fall 
is beneficial to them. 

CLEMATIS. 

Although more properly belonging 
to the nurseryman than the florist we 
are continually asked to supply plants 
of several varieties and species of 
these free flowering hardy climbers. 

Some of the species are readily in- 
creased by cuttings. The paniculata 
type root freely from pieces of the 
young growth and there is no better 
place than the gentle heat of a hot- 
bed. They all are, however, bought 
very cheaply from the nurseryman. 
The large flowered Jackmanii type are 
usually grafted on the roots of C. 
flammula, the common European, or 



time in the greenhouse. The potted 
plants look well when sold, but are 
more liable to suffer from neglect after 
planting. In very strong plants there 
is such a mass of roots that it is im- 
possible to spread them sufliciently 
for all to get some earth around them, 
so we cut out about half the roots, 
which enables us to get some soil 
among them. 

You dare not guarantee the clematis. 
If you do you will have to make good 
your losses on some other article. But 
you can plant them with care and 
give good advice as to the attention 
they need. They are nearly always 
planted against a veranda, whose over- 
hanging roof often keeps the rain 
away, or they may be on the side of 
the house or an aspect from which the 
prevailing rains are infrequent. They 
should during summer receive copious 
waterings. When planting out each 
clematis should receive a barrow load 
of good, rich soil and not be put into 
a small hole and have clay or brick 



58 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 




Various Types of Chrysanthemums. 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



59 



bats to feed on, which is often the re- 
sult of the grading and sodding that 
is done around a pretty house. 

In milder countries the gorgeous 
Jackmanii and its kindred varieties 
may retain their stems through the 
winter; with us they do not, but when 
well established the roots have such 
vigor that the young shoots spring 
from the ground in a very few weeks, 
and by end of June are a gorgeous 
mass of bloom 7, 8 and 9 feet high, and 
5 or 6 feet across. All these flower 
from the growth of the same year. 
The past severe winter has injured 
a few, but the majority of the clematis 
have come through none the worse. 

Plants of Jackmanii, Henryii or any 
of that type make splendid decorative 
plants grown on a balloon or flat 
trellis in large pots. For this purpose 
they should not be cut down, as the 
frost does our outside ones, but win- 
tered in some very cool house and 
merely thinned out and tied in spring 
before starting into heat. 

There is a great number of species 
and some of them are very distinct. 
A few of them are natives of North 
America and make splendid plants for 
covering fences, railings, etc. 

C. paniculata is very hardy and is 
covered from July on with its white, 
finely divided flowers, resembling al- 
most balls of cotton. 

C. coccinea is a very distinct species 
with yellow and vermillion flowers of 
an odd shape; fine for verandas. 

C. flammula has white flowers, is 
very hardy and one of the strongest 
growers. 

C. Fortune!: small, white, fragrant; 
fine hardy climber. 

C. virginiana: a very strong grow- 
ing climber with small white fragrant 
flowers. 

The five species last mentioned do 
not require any special care and when 
once established live for years. It is 
what is known as the Jackmanii type, 
one of the first hybrids of which has 
immortalized the name of the raiser, 
Mr. Jackman, of Surrey, England, that 
need the best of attention in planting, 
etc., and which are to many people 
the only clematis. An old species 
from China with pale lavender flowers 
five or six inches in diameter must be 
one of the parents of Jackmanii. Of 
this beautiful type there is a number 
of varieties and among the best are: 

Jackmanii: Still one of the very 
best color; a rich purple. 

Jackmanii superba: Violet purple. 

Star of India: Reddish plum color. 

Sieboldii: Lavender. 

Henryii: The best white; very large. 

Mme. Edouard Andre: A very dis- 
tinct variety, approaching a bright 
red. 

Miss Bateman: An attractive vari- 
ety; white flowers with dark anthers; 
medium flower, dense grower and free 
bloomer, but not continuous. 

COBEA. 

The species best known and most 
useful is C. scandens and plants are 
annually raised in large quantities to 



be used as out door climbers. It is 
a perennial, but it is much better for 
us to treat it as an annual. As a 
quick growing plant of flne appearance 
to cover verandas, summer houses and 
stumps of trees it has scarcely an 
equal. It flowers profusely in August 
and September, but the large, bell- 
shaped flower is not conspicuous as in 
color it is of little contrast to the 
leaves. Where people want permanent 
vines such as honeysuckles, bignonias, 
etc., and are impatient of results we 
recommend the cobea for immediate 
effect, or till the hardy vines make 
a show. When this is done be care- 
ful not to let the cobeas smother the 
permanent vines when young. 



er and it would be impossible to get 
them apart. There are few of our cus- 
tomers that don't know the cobea and 
a few hundred are asked for every 
spring. And when you have to buy it 
is one of those things difficult to get 
in satisfactory shape. 

COLD-FRAMES. 

What we call a cold-frame (low 
walls of wood or brick supporting 
some glazed sash) is a miniature 
greenhouse without any artiflcial heat. 
Every grower should know the great 
value of them and how much they add 
to his capacity for raising many plants 
and temporarily increase the area of 




Clematis of Jackmanii Type. 



The variegated form of Cobea scan- 
dens is a beautiful plant and makes a 
fine greenhouse climber, but is not of 
value outside. The variegated sort is 
always propagated by cuttings which 
strike root in the sand at any time 
you have good young shoots ready. 

Cobea scandens is always raised 
from seed. We sow in March in flats 
containing two inches of light sandy 
soil, and keep in a temperature of 60 
degrees. Press the soil down evenly 
and moderately firm, and press the 
seeds into the soil, always on edge. No 
covering is needed; the upper edge of 
the seed can be even with the surface 
of the soil. Give them a good water- 
ing and keep moist till the young 
plants are up an inch or two when 
they should have plenty of light and 
be soon potted off singly in small pots. 

They grow rapidly, and when flve or 
six inches high we shift them into a 
4-inch pot and put a stake two feet 
long to each one. If not staked and 
tied they get entangled with each oth- 



his glass. There are times, especially 
with the man who raises bedding 
plants, when his place is fearfully con- 
gested and the addition of another 
thousand feet of bench room is the 
greatest relief. 

Cold-frames are used for many pur- 
poses. In the fall and winter for pan- 
sies, to store away hybrid perpetual 
roses, to winter pot carnations that 
are wanted for next summer's bloom, 
to winter many herbaceous plants that 
have been raised from seed the pre- 
vious August, to protect Roman hya- 
cinths, and also the Dutch hyacinths 
are as well under glass where they 
don't get so wet, and the severe frost 
does not crack the pots. 

Some of our common little vase 
plants we winter in cold-frames, viz.: 
the sedums, lysimachia (money vine) 
and the variegated glechoma. In the 
spring these frames are of still great- 
er use; not only do they relieve our 
crowded benches, but many plants do 
far better in them than in a green- 



60 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



house. In the frames you have per- 
fect light, an abundance of air, and 
on fine warm days the sashes can be 
removed when full exposure to sun- 
light and air can be given. 

Carnation growers can put their 
young plants into the cold-frames 
about April the first and a few weeks 
in them will condition the plants for 
the open field much better than a 
lofty hot house. By the middle of 
April all the annuals in flats or plant- 
ed can go into the cold-frames, and 
many of our bedding plants will be 
greatly benefited by a few weeks in 
the cold-frames. H is a far better 
place for geraniums than a shaded 
house without fire heat. 

In the summer, without the sash, we 
find great use for the frames for 
plunging out our azaleas, acacias, 
hardy roses and many plants that are 
kept in pots during summer. Boards 
fastened up to keep your plunging ma- 
terial in place may do as well, but the 
frame is all ready to hand. 

I had forgotten one very important 
use and that is for the longiflorum 
lilies in the fall. Both the Bermuda 
and the .Japan grown are potted and 
placed in the cold-frames, and in case 
of very heavy rains are much better 
covered with the sash. Those you keep 
for Easter and later flowering must 
be kept in the frame till New Year's 
or later, and there is where your cold- 
frame will come in right, in fact is a 
necessity. 

The ground on which these frames 
are stood should never be in a place 
where surface water will stand, even 
if only during heavy rains. If it is not 
a naturally dry position make provi- 
sion to carry off the rains from the 
surrounding surface. Where a large 
lot of sash is used for this purpose 
some of the frames at least ean be per- 
manent. By that I mean they can be 
built of cedar or cypress posts (4x4 is 
a good size) driven into the ground 
every 8 feet for the back and front 
line "of the frame, which can be any 
desired length. I have one of 30 sash 
in length devoted to violets. Where 
they are built to fixed posts in this 
way it is best to use 2-inch plank for 
the walls. Where the frame is mov- 
able and is made in length to fit three 
or four sash, one inch lumber will do. 
The sashes are made of various sizes, 
but it is wrong to have them an awk- 
ward size; 6 feet long by 3 feet 6 
inches wide is large enough, and some 
prefer 3 feet wide. 

For a great majority of our frames, 
whether permanent or portable, the 
height at back is 18 inches and the 
front 12 inches, giving the sash a slope 
of 6 inches to the sun; that is plenty. 
For a few larger plants we have some 
frames that are 2 feet at back and IS 
inches in front. I prefer the cypress 
sash, butting the glass. Always use 
double thick glass; these sash get a 
good deal of handling and occasionally 
one blows off in a gale. They run 
risks of breakage far more than a 
fixed roof; they are moved repeatedly 
10 ventilate and are raised to enable 



you to water, so the double thick glass 
will save the extra price in glass in 
one year. 

Always have a rafter for every sash 
to rest on and slide on. They are 
very simply made by nailing a piece 
of pine 2x1 on to another piece of pine 
4x1, and have a hook and eye for 
every sash, to keep them from blow- 
ing off in a storm. There are always 
enough spare sash in the dark winter 
days so that you can overhaul the 
whole lot, mend them where needed 
and give them a coat of paint. And 
then when you put on the sash over a 
young batch of carnations there won't 
be a glass out in each sash, which you 
often see decorated with a piece of 
board, and which blows off to make a 
hole in the next sash, to chill or drown 
out the plants beneath, to disseminate 
profanity and vex all around. Some 
men may take all the little accidents 
that ensue from neglect quite placidly, 
but depend upon it when they do they 
are s.uggish, good natured fellows that 
won't get far ahead. 

A hail storm that knocks out all 
your glass is no cause to get irritable. 
The writer has been through it and 
knows how it feels. It can't be help- 
ed, no power could hinder it, and 
therefore you should be cheerful and 
clean up and find out the best place 
to buy glass as quick as possible. But 
these so-called accidents which are 
purely neglect are what vex a man. 

A good part of your frames should be 
made to take four sash, because they 
are what are used on the hotbeds. 
You seldom need those deeper than IS 
inches by 1 foot and the ends should 
be fastened to a 2x4 post in the four 
corners. All sash should have a strip 
of iron running across the middle on 
the under.side, to which each bar 
should be fastened with a screw. It 
helps greatly to strengthen the sash 
and keep it from winding. The strip 
of iron can be %xVi inch. In summer 
when of little use see that the sash 
are laid or stood on timbers, off the 
ground, not winding, and that a door 
or some such thing be stood up and 
tacked to the last one covering the 
glass, so that your sons or sons' 
friends when showing you how they 
can curve a ball will be satisfied to 
break the windows in your barn and 
not go through three or four depths of 
sash. 

COLEUS. 

For the past thirty years, and still 
is, and perhaps always will be grown 
an immense quantity of small plants 
of coleus for our flower gardens. 
Verschaffeltii is a variety raised from 
Blumei, which species is also the pa- 
rent of the thousands of varieties that 
have been raised, disseminated, and 
many now forgotten. The coleus as 
a bedding plant is finely suited to our 
warm summers and those that have 
not seen it struggling along, dwarf 
and scrubby looking, in the gardens of 
North Britain, don't realize what a 
grand plant we have in this tropical 
herb. 



in climates where they make but a 
poor growth out of doors they are ap- 
preciated as decorative pot plants for 
which they make fine specimens. They 
can be pinched and tied to most sym- 
metrical forms and for pure beauty 
of form and color are as handsome as 
any plant. But here, where we see 
them growing so luxuriantly outside 
they are not appreciated as pot plants 
unless it be for filling up in the sum- 
mer and fall. It would not be at all 
difficult to start with a 4-inch plant 
in February and by the following Oc- 
tober-have a plant 6 feet across and 
as even in outline as an umbrella, birt 
fe^v would stop to admire it. They 
would only remark or refiect: "How 
long it must have taken John Smith 
to grow that plant!" The plant is 
not wortli the pains. 

To digress a moment. To me it is 
no pleasure (simply a bore in factj 
to see an elephant on a tub, a horse 
waltzing, or a dog walking on his hind 
legs. I feel very tired if it lasts long 
and instead of being amused by such 
monstrosities am continually thinking 
how many weary days and weeks it 
must have taken to teach these lower 
animals the tricks. That's all there is 
in it; it shows the patience and untir- 
ing perseverance of some men, the re- 
sult is nothing when attained. I will 
go a long ways to see a. dog chasing 
a rabbit or a fox, a horse's neck 
stretched out to pass the winning post 
first, or an elephant i;ull a ten-ton 
cannon and show his majestic strength 
and it's about the same with these 
specimen coleus. It only shows the 
patience and skill of the workman; 
the result is meager after all the la- 
bor and cost. 

To obtain a good stock of coleus for 
bedding purposes it is better to carry 
over a few each of the leading varie- 
ties in pots during summer, say in 5 
or 6-inch pots. If you should have a 
cool spell in October and November, 
when firing but little, the fair sized 
plants can stand it, but small plants 
in 2-inch pots cannot. By starting 
these plants in good, strong heat after 
New Year's you will soon get^ plenty 
of cuttings. As is known to every 
florist the coleus roots most easily in 
sand the year around, and in the 
months of March and April when you 
are doing your heaviest propagating 
a bottom heat will save several days. 

Coleus are sold cheap and must be 
raised expeditiously or there will be 
no profit. We endeavor to have sev- 
eral sizes. The largest are in 4-inch 
pots. Perhaps these have been stop- 
ped at least twice, their cuttings hav- 
ing been used for propagation. The 
;i-inch pot plants were stopped once 
and the smaller plants in 2%-inch had 
the top pinched out. We find custom- 
ers want different sizes. Some are 
willing and able to pay for the largest 
plants: others think the smallest plant 
just as good; "They grow very fast 
you know." We keep on propagating 
to the middle of May. 

I have seen, in fact I have had, a 
poor lot of coleus, for sale at the end 
of May, just when they should be 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



61 




Clematis Paniculata. 



looking fine, and the reason was I 
thought it a saving to buy no more 
fuel after the end of April or first of 
May, and perhaps to add to the trou- 
ble had some whitewash on the house. 
A sudden drop in temperature with 
a cool damp house is the very worst 
thing for coleus. They lose their 
leaves, grow decidedly smaller, and 
instead of showing their fine colors, 
all assume a brown paper appearance. 
Full sunlight and heat is what they 
want and must have. 

I must refer once more to the hot- 
beds. There is no place like them to 
grow good bedding coleus. They need 
not be built up as if you were grow- 
ing cucumbers in the month of March, 
but one foot of solid stable manure 
with four or five inches of loam or 



refuse hops on top and some clean 
glass over them will produce in three 
weeks a bettejj bedding plant than you 
can make in ten weeks inside. Have a 
big batch of cuttings so that they are 
ready to pot off middle of April. By 
first of May they can go into the hot- 
bed in 3-inch pots, and that is their 
finish. One more great advantage is 
that on warm days toward bedding out 
time you can remove the sash, which 
finely prepares these tropical plants 
tor their next and last move. 

We use coleus of several varieties 
for veranda boxes and vases. They 
always do well. The only trouble with 
them is that they grow so freely that 
if allowed they will smother the gera- 
niums, the flowers of which are alway.-; 
looked for. 



Any light loam with a third of sift- 
ed rotten manure will grow coleus, and 
if we wish to hurry them along we 
add a quart of bone flour to every 
bushel of compost. 

Mealy bug is about the only green- 
house pest that troubles the coleus. 
and if it has been a gardener that had 
charge of the hose, that would not 
be seen. A proper use of the hose will 
keep them down; if it does not, use 
the kerosene emulsion in the mildest 
form, and if your plants are very bad 
throw them away and start with a 
clean lot. 

Verschaffeltii I can remember very 
well watering as a rather choice ex- 
otic about the year 1863. It is by 
long odds still the best of them all, 
and Golden Bedder is such a fine gol- 
den yellow that nothing is equal to it 
in its color. If you grew 3,000 coleus 
for bedding plants, 2,500 should be 
Verschaffeltii, 2,000 Golden Bedder. 
and the rest your own fancy. For 
vases, etc., the fancy sorts are useful. 
Klondike is a yellow with a few dark 
markings, a very strong and useful 
variety. We have long since neglected 
to keep record of the names of the 
fancy coleus, and grow only half a 
dozen that are most distinct and keep 
their color and markings outside in 
the broad sun. 

COSMOS. 

The annual varieties are now great 
favorites, not only for the flower bor- 
der but more especially for cutting. 
Its finely divided foliage and handsome 
flowers are now produced of various 
shades, there being now crimson, pink, 
white, and last a yellow. The only 
drawback to the cosmos was its late 
flowering habit, early frosts in our 
northern gardens coming before it had 
scarcely bloomed. 

By selection an earlier breed will 
soon be produced, some seedsmen now 
advertising a strain that will begin 
to flower in June and be in full bloom 
in August. We have noticed cosmos 
in bloom this year by middle of July. 
While a tendency to early flowering is 
produced, the later strains are also 
more compact in growth; that, how- 
ever, to the florist who grows for cut 
flowers is not so important, as it is in 
the long sprays that it is particularly 
graceful, and for decorations few flow- 
ers surpass it in light, airy beauty. 

Only moderately rich soil should b(? 
given it or it would grow too strong. 
Plants that have many blooms yet to 
open can be lifted and planted in 
boxes and placed in a light position at 
the end of a carnation house, and will 
be greatly appreciated after all outside 
flowers are killed. Grown in a posi- 
tion where a deep cold-frame could be 
put over them in fall to protect them 
from the first severe frost will well 
repay the trouble. 

They are best sown end of February, 
and transplanted into flats and kept 
in cold frame and planted out middle 
to end of May. 



62 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



COTYLEDON. 

These now include what we have so 
long known as the echeveria and sem- 
pervivum. They are dwar£ succulents, 
a few of them forming stems, mostly 
perennials. Very few are of any value 
as flowering plants. Many of them 
are indispensable for carpet bedding. 
In fact, the rage for carpet bedding of 
twenty-five years ago brought several 
species of the echeveria into great 
prominence and millions were grown. 
They will always be most interesting 
plants for the rockery. 

They are of the easiest culture, all 
the useful species sending out a num- 
ber of offsets which can be removed 
from the parent plant in fall and 
planted into sandy loam thickly in 
flats. If you wish them to grow during 
winter you can give them a tempera- 
ture of 55 to 60 degrees, with perfect 
light, and keep moderately moist. But 
for wintering most of them a much 
lower temperature will do; and give 
them little water during the dark 
months. The echeveria section should 
not be exposed to any frost. 

While propagation by offsets is much 
the easiest plan, they can all be raised 
from seed, which is best sown in very 
early spring. The following list in- 
cludes the most useful as well as 
handsome species: 

C. sempervivum: House leek; per- 
fectly hardy. 

C. Gibbiflora metallica: Fine for 
center of carpet beds, or worthy of pot 
culture; broad thick leaves of a me- 
tallic hue. 

C. agavoides: Beautiful form, re- 
sembling an agave, with sharp points 
to the leaves; one of the handsomest. 

C. calif ornica: Fine form; good for 
carpet bedding. 

C. glauca: Leaves form a dense ro- 
sette; largely used. 

C. secunda glauca: This is the one 
most in use; does well in any soil, is 
easily and rapidly propagated and for 
carpet bedding is unequalled; there are 
several varieties, all useful. 

C. Peacockii: This is perhaps the 
most ornamental of all, and much less 
common than most others. 

C. Ruthenicum: Good for rockery; 
quite hardy. 

C. Verlottii: A pretty species, and 
hardy. 

C. rosea: A fine form; suitable for 
large designs in carpet bedding. 

C. retusa: This is the only one we 
have grown as a flowering plant for 
fall and winter sales. It sends up sev- 
eral flowering stems thickly covered 
with very pretty flowers. Being a suc- 
culent it is a most satisfactory house 
plant, and twenty years ago we grew 
it largely. It is well worth growing. 
Plants that have flowered should be 
cut down within a few inches of the 
ground and from the stem you will 
get several cuttings, which will root 
quickly in the sand and can be potted, 
and when there is no longer danger of 
frost planted out of doors a foot apart 
in good rich earth. You want these 
plants to grow, unlike those you have 



crowded into the carpet beds. They 
will grow fast, and if inclined to flower 
too early pinch out the flowering stem 
till September. They lift, of course, 
with the greatest ease. We like to put 
them into a 5-inch pot. For inside ar- 
rangements of plants such as are often 
seen in the dining rooms of hotels this 
plant is of especial value, and the spe- 
cies metallica would also be for its 
grand leaves. A cold dampness is all 
that will hurt them. 

Some of the species do not make off- 
shoots, or not in quantity enough to 
propagate sufficiently fast. The leaves 
can be pulled off when perfectly ma- 
ture and very slightly inserted in sand 
and kept dry; on the ends or base of 
the leaf small plants will form, which 
when of sufficient size can be potted 
and started growing. 

You frequently see the bedding spe- 
cies used in frames or on the margins 
of beds where the edge of the bed is 
nearly perpendicular. Ordinary soil 
would wash down at the first rain. 
For these positions a mixture of clay 
and cow manure is used, and the 
plants put in when it is moist, the 
compost afterwards hardening as the 
fresh moulded brick does when ex- 
posed to the sun, and the cow manure 
binds it. 

CRINUM. 

Evergreen bulbs which send up a 
handsome mass or flower in a more or 
less showy umbel. The prevailing 
color is white. They are not of any 
commercial value, but are handsome 
plants for the private conservatory. 
They make strong, fleshy roots and to 
do well should be given plenty of pot 
room. 

They require good drainage and a 
mixture of rather rough, turfy loam 
and decayed manure. If the pots are 



full of roots and you cannot shift 
them give them a top dressing of ma- 
nure in the spring. When making 
their growth in the spring they re- 
quire lots of water and syringing to 
keep down thrip and spider. Though 
not so much water is needed in win- 
ter, they want a moderately warm 
place and must by no means be dried 
off. 

Seed is easily saved from the flow- 
ers and should be sown singly in small 
pots and shifted and grown on. They 
also can be propagated by off-shoots, 
which can be taken off when small. 

The handsomest are nearly all trop- 
ical and flower during the summer 
months. 

CROCUS. 

This pretty little flower is alluded 
to in the article on bulbs. It is not 
really a bulb; it is a corm, but we al- 
ways class it among the Dutch bulbs. 
We have never forced them profitably, 
but they are of course the most easy 
of any of the bulbs to force. In 
small pans they are the most salable; 
the demand for them, however, is very 
small and not worth bothering about. 
A great many crocus are sold every 
fall for planting in cemeteries, where 
they are dropped into holes four or five 
inches below the surface and will grow 
and flower every spring for years. 
They are not suitable for grouping 
with the tulips and hyacinths, being 
much too early. In fact, they appear 
as soon as the snow disappears and 
are often caught in a snow storm after 
thej' are in bloom. 

They will thrive in any soil that is 
not too retentive of moisture. Dotted 
into the grass or in beds under the 
wall of a house they brighten up the 
first days of spring. Annuals can be 
grown over them during summer with- 




Croton Reidii, 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



63 




Cycas Revoluta. 



out any harm it you don't disturb the 
soil too deep. There is no need of 
transplanting them; they will take 
care of themselves for years. 

The varieties which we grow are 
named, but the color is sufficient, and 
of that we have yellow, purple, blue, 
white and striped. 

CROTON. 

These highly ornamental leaved 
plants can best be described by calling 
them hot house evergreen shrubs or 
trees, which they really are. As large 
decorative plants for the conservatory 
they have few equals. In the latitude 
of Philadelphia and southward they 
make beautiful beds out of doors, or 
add greatly to the appearance of the 
sub-tropical or mixed bed, but even 
in that latitude they should be in pro- 
tected situations. 

For decorations they are valuable, 
but not in cold weather, for a chill 
(even a low temperature) soon takes 
oft their beauty, and a croton must be 
in perfect condition or it is useless. 
They also dislike to have their roots 
chilled with cold water, and repeated 
doses of cold water will soon show by 
a drooping of the foliage. 

They are rapidly propagated from 
the tips of the young growths in warm 
sand in March and April. The sand 
must be kept moist and sun and 
draughts kept from the cuttings. 
Growers of large quantities plant out 
on a bench in five or six inches of good 
rich soil, the young plants in a light 
house, where during the summer 
months they make a fine quick growth 
and in the fall they are lifted and pot- 
ted, and when established are ready 
for sale. 

Where expense is of little moment 
they make splendid plants for the 
mixed baskets of flowers and plants 



now sold in our largest cities. To grow 
crotons at their best they should not 
go below 70 degrees at night at any 
time of the year, but for a short time 
will endure 20 degrees lower than that. 
Unlike a palm or dracaena, however, 
anything near the freezing point for 
an hour or two will greatly damage 
them. 

They are subject to the ravages of 
the mealy bug, red spider and thrip, 
but there is no excuse for either, as 
they delight in syringing; the proper 
use of the hose should banish their 
pests, or rather they should never ap- 
pear. 

For soil they like a strong, turfy 
loam with a fifth or sixth of rotten 
cow manure, and should be firmly pot- 
ted, and when the water passes prop- 
erly through the soil, which it always 
should, they want lots of it. Bone 
meal has been added to the compost 
(about one pound to a bushel of soil) 
with the very best results. 

The following will be found very 
handsome and satisfactory varieties, 
and without describing each variety, 
they can be depended on to furnish 
both variety and form, habit and color 
of the leaf: 

Aurea picta, acubaefolia. Baron 
Rothschild, Day Spring, contorta. 
Challenger, Disraeli, elegantissimus, 
.lohannis, Mortii, Langii, Ruberrinum, 
Sunbeam, Reidii, gloriosum. Lady 
Zetland, voluta. 

Picta is remembered as one of the 
oldest and is probably the parent of 
most of the present varieties. 

These plants are so universally 
known as crotons (and probably will 
be for a long time to come) that it is 
not worth while naming them any- 
thing else here. Yet modern horticul- 
tural dictionaries say that they are 
not crotons but codiaeums, , 



CYCAS. 

There is one species of this hand- 
some palm-like plant that is known to 
all florists, the C. revoluta. It is not 
only one of the finest of our decora- 
tive plants, but its handsome leaves 
are largely used simply tied together 
or with the addition of roses, etc.. for 
funeral designs. Cycas leaves of all 
sizes and perfect in outline and color 
are now imported either from China or 
climes where this plant grows freely 
out of doors the year round. Although 
they are beautifully preserved and put 
into fine artistic forms, they are not 
quite the thing with all our customers 
and do not entirely take the place o' 
the home grown, naturally colored 
leaves. 

The cycas is quite a tough plant. I 
mean by that that it withstands a good 
deal of rough usage. I have seen it do 
well the year round in a light room 
where gas was used, and if you have 
no better place it will thrive in a tem- 
perature of 50 degrees all winter, but 
that is not the way to produce fine 
leaves. It will burn under the focus of 
glass, but will stand out of doors un- 
harmed in the broadest and hottest 
suns if plentifully supplied with wa- 
ter. It makes a grand specimen for a 
lawn during the summer months. 

They should not have a larger pot 
or tub than is necessary, but must 
have a shift every two years if they 
are making a strong growth. The soil 
should be a strong turfy loam, light- 
ened up with leaf-mould and sand, or 
a fifth or sixth of well rotted cow ma- 
nure. In the spring if you have no 
occasion to shift them give them a 
mulch of not over decayed manure. 
When in good health they will always 
make one whorl of leaves every spring. 
If water passes freely through the soil 
you cannot very well overwater them, 
and they like syringing at all times. 

Their greatest enemy is the brown 
scale, and to remove this (or rather 
prevent it) they must be sponged with 
the kerosene emulsion. Mealy bug 
will attack them, but there is no ex- 
cuse for that, as the hose should keep 
them down. A temperature of 60 de- 
grees will do very well in winter and 
as hot as you like in spring and sum- 
mer. When cutting the leaves for use 
never cut very close to the stem; leave 
three inches of the stem of the leaf on 
the main trunk. 

There is no need of discussing the 
method of propagation of the cycas, 
as the young plants or stems in a 
dormant state are now imported b.v 
the ton and sold by weight. When 
first received they should be put into 
pots not much larger than the diame- 
ter of stem and plunged into bottom 
heat. They will in course of time 
throw out a small whorl of leaves, but 
their root action is slow. At this stage 
they are easily hurt, and although not 
wanting bottom heat after a few 
months, the plants should not be put 
out of doors or used for decoration, or 
by any means sold to a customer till 
they have made a good growth of 



64 



The FLORISTS' manual. 




¥-..*- 



Cyclamen, in basket dressed with ribton. 



roots, which will be two years from 
the time they are started. 

We often get an old cycas on our 
hands that has been abused and lost 
Its leaves. By shaking off the soil and 
potting in small pots and treating as 
you do the imported stems you will in 
time get a good plant. 

C. revoluta is by far the most valu- 
able to the florist for all purposes. Of 
the other species for private collec- 
tions, media and circinalis are fine 
plants. 

CYCLAMEN. 

Of all the winter blooming green- 
house plants as well as a plant for a 
customer a well grown cyclamen takes 
the first rank. It is second to none. 
It is so pretty in leaf and beautiful in 
Hower that few of our customers can 
resist buying one, and when to that 
is added its good qualities as a house 
plant it is worthy of our greatest care 
and attention. There are several spe- 
cies of cyclamen, but only one that is 



of importance to the florist. We often 
hear people from Central Europe (not 
gardeners) when they see the cj^la- 
men persicum in our greenhouses say 
that they grow wild in Europe, and 
they call them the Alp violet. It is 
Cyclamen neapolitanum they have 
seen, a native of that country. All the 
beautiful varieties we grow are from 
C. persicum. 

The writer can remember when 
these plants were coddled up, starved 
largely and kept from year to year. 
That day is past, and they are now 
rarely kept over, but are grown annu- 
ally from seed. Anyone having a good 
strain should save his own seed; it is 
best fresh. It will be ripe in May and 
.lune and should be sown in September. 
If you don't save the seed, get the 
best strain. The form that is known 
as giganteum is not as good for the 
florist as the type known as C. P. 
grandiflora. 

Sow in light soil and press the seeds 
into the soil and then cover slightly 



Keep moderately moist and they will 
germinate in three or four weeks. 
When the small leaves are up you 
.should give the pan or flat plenty of 
light in a temperature of about 55 de- 
grees. When the little bulbs (as we wi^l 
call them) are the size of a small pea 
they should be transplanted into pans 
.•)r can go singly into 2-inch pots. If 
kept light and healthy they will need 
a 3-inch pot by middle of April, and 
the best place of all for them is a niilo 
hot-bed. The manure should be well 
firmed into the frame and on it place 
four or five inches of soil or ashes, in- 
to which plunge the pots close to the 
glass. 

A permanent shade is very bad for 
cyclamen, as they only want a shade 
which can be applied by throwing over 
a thin cloth in the hottest hour^v of the 
day. Never let them suffer for want 
of water. A slight syringing every 
lu'ight morning is necessary. If aphis 
appears and fumigating is not prac- 
tical, syringe with one of ths tobacco 
extracts. By middle of June they will 
want another shift, and a slight bot- 
tom heat will still help them very 
much. They should be raised in the 
idunging material till the rims of the 
pots are even with the top of frame, 
so that they can be syringed thorough- 
ly. They will now be in 4 and 5-inch 
pots. 

By the middle of August they should 
have their last shift, a 6 or 7. or even 
an S-inch pot, if large enough. They 
should never be crowded in the frame, 
never neglected for water and syring- 
ing and never shaded except in the 
hottest hours. Some narrow strips can 
be run along the frames above the 
plants and on these some lattice shad- 
ing or cheese cloth can be rolled on 
and off. The full exposure to the air 
except during the brightest hours 
(from 10 to 4) is what they want. If 
wanted early some can be "loved to 
the greenhouse middle of September, 
others can remain a month or six 
weeks later. 

The cyclamen is by no means a ten- 
der plant, but it is not well to expose 
them to frost. 

I have spoken before about what 
I consider good rdainage. For cy- 
clamen in the last shift I would say 
a good handful of broken crocks cov- 
ered with a layer of green wood moss. 
In the greenhouse, as at all times 
I hey should have the fullest light. Hor- 
ticultural writers use the phrase con- 
tinuously "near the glass." v.-hich is 
equivalent to saying "perfect light." 
but plants that are near the glass of- 
ten get a better circulation of air 
around them (a great advantage) than 
(hose near the floor. 

If well drained the cyclamen is not 
very particular about soil. A good 
yellow loam, with a fourth of well de- 
cayed cow manure and a fourth of 
leaf-mould, rather firmly potted, will 
grow them well. Some growers mix 
a little broken lime rubbish with good 
effect. Sometimes the beginner is 
puzzled to know how deep to put the 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



65 




Small Plant of Cytisus in a Basket. 



bulb or eoim. When shifting yoii 
can keep the top of bulb about ev^n 
with or a little above the surface of 
soil. With the watJiing and growth 
the bulb will soon elevate itself to 
the surface. 

It syringing is properly attended to 
the thrip and spider are seldom troub- 
lesome, but the aphis is a jjorsistent 
enemy of this beauLifui plant, getting 
down among the young leaves and 
Hower buds. A faithful weekly fumi 
gating must be followed up. I tried 
one winter an experiment on the best 
temperature to flower them: 4-j deg>.e!-'=; 
at night was too cool and 55 was too 
hot: 50 degrees seemed to be just 
right, opening the flowers fast enough 
without drawing them up. If once 
clean of aphis when brouglit into^the 
house a good plan is to stand every 
pot on an inverted 6-inch pot and place 
three or four inches of loose tobacco 
stems between the pots. This will 
keep down the Hy. but it should be re- 
newed every three or four weeks. 

Plants are seldom carried over the 
second year. If you wish to, lessen the 
supply of water after the flowers are 
gone and keep cool till May, when the 
pots can be placed outside, in July 
shake off the old soil and start grow- 
ing in smaller pots and shift again as 
required. Old plants, if well managed, 
give an enormous lot of flowers that 
are usually not as fine as those on the 
year-old plants, and the plants are not 
as perfect. If a plant can in fifteen 
months be grown in an 8-inch pot, the 
foliage 15 to 18 inches across, v.'ith 100 
fine flowers, what better is needed? 

In Europe they use the soot of bitu- 
minous coal as an ingredient of the 
compost; it adds to the size and color 
of the leaves. A liquid application of 
nitrate of soda would possibly have a 
similar result. Yo\i can buy cyclamen 



seed in dstinct colois. and whMe 
laigfly grown should do so. The 
mixed strains, where only a few hun- 
dred are needed, will give you a fire 
variety. Seed can be sown as late as 
.January with good results, and if 
grown cool in winter can be had in 
bloom for April and May. 

The cre.sted and so-called double 
forms are curious, but no improve- 
ment in beauty over the older form- 
The double is in fact a monstrosity 
without beauty. The colors range 
from deepest crimson to purest white 
and in many the colors are finely 
blended. 

Finally, what is true of most soft- 
wooded plants is more particularly 
true in the cultivation of the cycla- 
men; they should have no check, no 
setback of any kind from tiie tiin^ 
the seed germinates till they are in 
bloom, but should be continually 
growing. 

CYTISUS. 

Tliese are often called genista. Ijiil 
cytisus is the correct name, of which 
the beautiful tree or shrub Laburnum 
is one. They are profuse blooming, 
branching evergreens. Small plants 
in 4 and 5-inch pots are most useful, 
but a limited number of the larger 
plants are very fine for decoration. 
Their bright yellow color, the plants 
covered with flowers, makes them 
very attractive, but we do not con- 
sider them at all a good house plant, 
the leaves and flowers soon dropping, 
and the reason must be the dry air 
of the room. 

Any ordinary loam with a little rot- 
ten manure will grow them. They are 
sometimes troubled with red spider 
but never when they are kept syringed 
during the summer. 

They root readily from the young 



growths in February and are pinched 
and grown on by shifting during sum- 
mer. We never plant them out be- 
cause they lift badly. Keep them 
under glass and keep them plunged on 
a bench where there is very little 
shade. To make compact little plants 
they want their strongest shoots often 
stopped, the last stopping or clipping 
should not be later than December. In 
winter they can be kept in a very cool 
house: 40 t'egrees at night will b- 
plenty. 

They are of most use as an Easter 
plant and if not kept very cool will 
lie too early for Easier unles.s that 
festival comes on an early date. Un- 
sold plants can be sheared off and if 
kept warm and tyringed will soon 
make a fine growth, and when shifter! 
they can be plunged outside in sum- 
mer and will want at intervals an oc- 
c-asional clipping. They can be made 
very round, compact, handsome bush- 
es or allowed to grow more freely if 
you wish. 

Canariensis is a trifle darker than 
racemosus but the latter is the best 
grower and best plant. 

DAHLIA. 

These magnificent herbaceous plants 
have long been favorites of the garden 
and were, I think, once more frequent- 
ly seen than at present. They do not 
reward you with their grand flowers it 
just shoved into the groui!d as the use- 
ful geranium does. They want culti- 
vation and they are well worth it. Ex- 
cepting as to odor what flower is more 
pet feet than a dahlia? 

There are several classes: The Show 
Uahlia is the large double flower. The 
Fancies are identical excepting in the 
markings of the flower. The Pompon 
are perfect little double flowers, not 
more than one-half or one-third the 
size ot the Show flower. The single 
iection are very handsome and are 
used more for bedding. Some twenty 
years ago they were very much in 
fashion. 

With the exception of the single 
class, or in case you want to raise new 
varieties of the double ones, the dah- 
lias are easily raised from cuttings. 
The clump of roots which has been 
resting all winter should be placed on 
a bench in February or March on an 
inch or so of soil. If there is heat 
under the bench so much the better. 
The house can be about 60 degrees. 
Scatter some light soil among the 
roots, just sufficient to cover them and 
keep moist. From the crown of the 
roots will spring a number of cuttings 
which when two or three eyes long 
can be cut off and put into the sand: 
or you can put each cutting in a 2-inch 
])ot. with a little soil at bottom and 
sand on top: the latter plan will save 
disturbing the roots. Always make the 
cuttings at a joint. This may be of 
little consequence with the majority 
of, plants but is important with dah- 
lias. 

When well rooted in the small pot.s 
shift into a 4-inch pot and give plenty 
of light and air, and as planting time 



66 



T'-IE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 




Single Dahlia. 



approaches they should be in a cold- 
frame, where they can be hardened 
off. The planting time will depend on 
when you are sure o£ no more frosts. 
The dahlia is a cold blooded plant 
yet it can't endure the slightest frost. 
The first frost of fall kills our dahlias, 
so a late frost in spring would put you 
back with the plants for weeks or kill 
them. 

If it is a bed you are going to plant 
then the whole ground should be deep- 
ly dug. and a fourth of its bulk of ma- 
nure added. The single varieties can 
be planted 2 ft. apart, the Pompons 
2 ft. 6 in., and the Show and Fancy 
kinds to do them real well should have 
4 ft. All should have stakes to sup- 
port them and in a dry time an abund- 
ance of water at least twice a week — 
not a sprinkling, but a soaking. Grow- 
ers of good dahlias pinch out the earli- 
est flowers and all lateral growths till 
the plant is 3 or 4 ft. high. 

The single varieties are easily raised 
from seed sown in February or March. 
When well up pot into 2-inch pots and 
shift on, giving all the light and air 
you can as planting time approaches. 

Being assistant to a good Scotch 
dahlia grower (the late Wm. Vair) in 
Toronto some 30 years ago, I have not 
forgotten his method and from plants 
l)ropagated in March he showed and 
won a prize the following July 1st for 
the "best 12 flowers of Show dahlias." 
By the end of May the young plants 
were 15 to 18 inches high in 4-inch 
pots. For every plant on a long border 
(.5 feet between plants) he dug a hole 
18 inches in diameter and 15 inches 
deep, working in a third of manure. 
The surplus soil was spread on the 
border. Near the center of the hole 
he drove down a stout stake which 



was left 4 ft. above the ground and 
close to that the plant was set. The 
surface of the soil was left in such 
shape that when watered the water 
would run to the plant, not away from 
it. I think it was the 20th of May 
they were planted. Frequently they 



were watered and you could almost^ 
see them grow. July the 1st is ex- 
tremely early to cut dahlias but there 
was a flower or two on several of the 
plants and after that they were a gor- 
geous sight. 

Jt is my good fortune to see and fre- 
quently to judge the wonderful dahlias 
shown at Toronto's great fair in Sep- 
tember: no better can be seen any- 
where and for years the superb flowers 
of Grainger Bros., Toronto, have been 
exhibited faultless in shape and color. 

It would be useless to give a list of 
varieties. The catalogues of our lead- 
ing florists and nurserymen describe 
them all and the varieties are in- 
numerable. The Show varieties have 
the magnificent self colors of crimson, 
red. yellow and white and inter- 
mediate shades. The Fancy flowers 
are most beautifully blotched, spotted 
and striped. The pretty little Pompons 
are all colors; some of the pink shades 
among them are fine for florists use 
and the singles are of every color. For 
cut flowers the Pompon class are the 
most useful. 

Anything but a very stiff clay will 
do for soil. The best I ever saw were 
grown in a sandy loam with a third of 
good manure added. Deep soil, plenty 
of manure and abundance of water are 
the three essentials. 

When the tops are destroyed by 
frost cut down to within six inches of 
the soil, shake or pick off all soil when 
lifting the roots and store in a cool, 
dry cellar or under a bench. Where 




Vase of Double Dahlias, 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



67 







t- 


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L A \ r - 


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■^i^^^ att^'"'' - 


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-mi^^^^ - S 


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- ^""■^■w^. 1 



Dwarf Dahlias in Pofs. 



potatoes will keep so will dahlias; 
cool as you like but no frost. 

If the amateur has no means of 
propagating, the old root can be plant- 
ed or divided, leaving an eye or two to 
each division, and placed in the ground 
by middle of May; but look out for 
late frosts if the top has started. 

ONLY A SELECT LIST ^eVt"' 
FLORISTS' 

Dahlias 

Are grown by us. 

Remember that in ordering from us you have 
the advantage of selecting from a stock which has 
been thoroughly culled: consequently vou buv 
^ood varieties as well as g-ood plants. 

THE COTTAGE GARDENS, 
QUEENS, N. Y. 

DECORATIONS. 

Keeping step with our business in 
other lines, the decoration of the 
house, the hall and the church has 
evolved apace and is with many a 
florist a leading feature of his trade, 
booking back twenty-five or thirty 
years we can hardly imagine what 
material we then had with which to 
till an order when we were favored 
with a decoration. Smilax we had, 
and some flowering plants of very 
common sorts. With the e.\ception of 
the chandelier the decorations must 
have been of cut flowers, and they 
were hardly worth calling cut flowers 
for all were short stemmed and jam- 
med into frames and designs in a 
very conventional way. 



We can all remember (at least all 
those whose hair is grey) that at a 
wedding or reception the chief deco- 
ration was the banking of the mantel- 
pieces with cut flowers, and I think I 
have seen such a bank of flowers, 6 
feet by 2 feet, that contained as many 
orders, genera, species and varieties 
as are usually found in a botanical 
garden. Of palms there were scarcely 
any. A few old latanias and occasion- 
ally a shop worn Seaforthia elegans 
comprised the stock in trade. Of the 
ornamental kentias and arecas there 
were none, and it would not be far 
wrong to say that with the great ma- 
jority of those who undertook a deco- 
ration, of palms or decorative plants 
there were none at all. 

To trace the progress and improve- 
ment in our style of decoration would 
be of no avail. What it is today and 
what we can look for in the future is 
what we are after. The basket fllled 
with moss and stuffed full of a variety 
of flowers on toothpicks is gone for- 
ever, and so is the bank of moss (often 
made on a board to fit the mantel- 
piece) gone never to return. The pass- 
ing away of that style, as well as the 
bouquet described in Peter Hender- 
son's fine little work, "Practical Flori- 
culture," is not a change of fashion; 
not at all. It is the awakening and the 
throwing off of a crude, semi-barbaric 
education in that particular line. And 
as pronounced traits of barbarism are 
occasionally cropping out among the 
most refined and polished peoples you 
occasionally see a bouquet that in 
form and make up reminds you of the 
dark ages. 

It is a question what brings about 
these great changes. Was it the sup- 
ply of better material that suggested 
a more natural and refined style of 
decoration, or was it the good taste 
of our patrons that stimulated the 



laste and originality of the florist? 
We think decidedly it was the latter, 
for material of some kinds we always 
bad, and flowers too, but a knowledge 
of their proper use came by education 
and it came slowly. Did it ever occur 
to you how much we are all imitator's? 
There are in our line only a few men 
of bright and original ideas in the 
whole country and I am without the 
postoffice address of those few, but al 
the risk of offending some mighty 
good people I believe these few bright 
lights lived (and I trust yet live) in 
New York and Boston. 

All reformers are abused and re- 
viled, or considered cranks by the com- 
mon herd. All discoverers and demon- 
strators of everlasting truths are held 
in contempt and spoken of by fossilized 
brains and robed hypocrites as enemies 
of mankind. Saints never lived; they 
are saints when they die. Linnaeus, the 
colossal brained Swede who demon- 
strated and published the facts about 
the sexes in plants, had to eat his 
words at the command of the church. 
.Tust fancy; he had to deny a great 
truth in nature which is today taught 
to every student at a high school. 
Happy is the man (for his mind is his 
great consolation) who will grasp the 
truth as great minds reveal it. Let 
him be penniless, he is yet rich, and 
a king compared to ignorant affluence, 
who, ostrich-like, hides its head to all 
true knowledge except that of acquir- 
ing wealth far beyond its necessities. 

This is a deviation from floral dec- 
orations, but I will apply the argu- 
ment to show that reformers in our 
line, men who were not afraid to step 
out of the beaten track, have likely 
been sneered at by hundreds of fogies 
who perhaps had nothing to say in ar- 
gument against a new idea only that 
the author was "getting gay," or 
"thinks he's smart." Every time some 
man of bright ideas bring out an ar- 
tistic move we ought to be thankful, 
tor by slow degrees our ideas of the 
artistic part of our business have been 
moved upward and onward. A move 
in the wrong direction will soon die 
out, for upward and onward and prog- 
ress are as sure to come as that we 
have progressed from the savage, and 
have lots of room for improvement yet. 

The last twenty years have given us 
material that was not dreamed of in 
the early days. We had smilax, but 
we did not have Asparagus plumosus. 
We had, but did not then avail our- 
selves of the Magnolia grandiflora 
sprays, the Mountain Laurel (kalmia). 
Holly was scarcely ever seen. Lycopo- 
dium (ground pine) was little used. 
Leucothoe sprays were unknown; also 
the southern wild smilax. Adiantum 
cuneatum was used, but in no such 
quantities as now. And in cut flowers 
we did not have our long-stemmed 
carnations, or our magnificent Ameri- 
can Beauty rose. And the glorious 
buds of Mermet and Perle or Cornelia 
Cook were very scarce twenty-five 
years ago. We had to be content with 
Safrano, Isabella Sprunt and Bon Si- 
lene. As for palms, the use of them 



68 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



with the majority of florists began 
about twenty years ago and has yearly 
increased till it would be safe to say 
that compared with twenty-five years 
ago palms are bought up and sold or 
used up at the rate of at least ten 
thousand to one. 

The rather stringent times of I he 
past five or six years araoug many 
wealthy people has cut down the price 
iif decorations and no great advance 
in .^tyle has been made. And the pre- 
vailing style is a very natural and sim- 
ple one. but good amounts can be ob- 
tained for good jobs. It is quality 
lunrt- than ruianlity that is asked for. 

Wedding Decorations. 

At a we(Uling decoration there is 
often some particular color that we 
have to follow, and while in details we 
must use our taste and skill, in the 
general plan we must follow the wishes 
of our patrons, if they command. At 
a home wedding there is usually an 
opportunity for the florist to show his 
skill in arranging a fine bank of palms 
as a background to the happy pair. 
This should be high and broad and 
light and giaceful. not thick and 
dense. If the chandeliers and mirrors 
are ornamented with greenery, aspar- 
agus should always be used and no at- 
tempt be made to follow the out:in£s 
of the chandelier, but thrown on very 
loosely. Instead of clearing off all the 
costly and beautiful ornaments from 
the mantel piece, as we us3d to, and 
l)utting on a slab of flowers, they are 
now decorated with two or three vasss 
of the finest long-stemmed flowers, 
such as roses, carnations or chrysan- 
themums. All flowers are wanted on 
long stems, and all can be so supplied 
with one important exception, i. e.. 
orchids; and orchids will be asked for 
in increased quantities, depend upon 
it, and if you can't supply them your 
customers will go to some one who 
can. 

Orchids are so desirable when cut, 
and it being impossible to cut any 
stem with some of them, cattleyas par- 
ticularly, that wherever there is an 
arrangement of them they are used in 
baskets or some low arrangement, and 
nothing accompanies tbem better than 
maiden-hair ferns. 

Instead of banks of palms, except 
when occasion demands such, the 
plant decorations are made by stand- 
ing singly in every available spot a 
perfect specimen of palm or dracaena 
or croton. No such thing as a flower 
pot, however clean, should be exposed. 
The florist should have on hand hand- 
some jars in which the single speci- 
mens should stand. And in the 
groups, if the pots are not hidden by 
the smaller plants, then small plants 
of the Boston fern, or better still, As- 
paragus Sprengeri, must flnish the bot- 
tom edge of the bank. 

In regard to the vases of flowers. 
You are often asked to furnish vases, 
and you should always be able to sup 
ply them. 

None will differ with me when I as- 



sert that nothing embellishes a flower 
like its own foliage. Rose.s should 
have nothing more, nor lily of the val- 
ley, tulips or any of the bulbous stuff, 
or chrysantheniums. If your chrjsrn- 
themum foliage is not good cut some 
that is. Anything else would be ridic- 
ttlous. But carnations are weak in 
foliage and spr-ays of Asparagus 
Sprengeri go well with them. 

Christmas Decorations. 

Christmas decorations are of many 
kinds. Many good society people pre- 
fer to rent a public hall or assembly 
I'oom when they are going to give a 
ilance to .500 peop'.e. rather than turn 
their home upside down for a week. 
Perhaps the "old man" kicks. I don't 
blame him. If well heeled I should 
say. "Go and have your fun: all you 
want; but don't disturb my easy. chair. 
I will pay the bills, but be careful, my 
dear wife and daughter." 

At these events the florist has a 
great chance to display his skill and 
taste, and his work shows to the great- 
est advantage, as the halls are genei- 
ally bare of any permanent decoiation 
and well repay the florist's work. 
Here is where your wreathing of laurel 
the best of all comes in. Pillows and 
balconies are draped with wild smilax 
chandeliers and gas jets are adorned 
with holly bi-anches. the mistletoe 
bough hangs in some convenient nook 
and the evening has all the features of 
old England (except the accent of the 
people) a hundred years ago, Christ- 
mas, once so (oolly kept in this coun- 
try, is now the gi'eat festival of the 
year with Jew and Gentile alike. We 
often hear from our patrons when we 
are taking an order: "We want it to 
look and feel real Christmassy, you 
know." They hardly know themselves 
what that is, but the feeling runs in 
song and legend, and that Christmas 
is associated with hol'y and red ber- 
ries, "The mistletoe hung in the cas- 
tle hall, the holly branch hung on the 
castle wall." 

Laurel and leucotboe are always 
used in wreathing and are very effec- 
tive, looking much richer than wreath- 
ing of ground pine. The magnol'a 
spi-ays are fine on panels or walls and 
should not be crowded, but should 
show their fine outlines. 

Holly is prettiest in branches and 
sprays, and there are lots of places to 
use it. 

The wild smilax is the greatest ac- 
quisition of all. .lust wound around 
pillai's. covering ceilings, or on the 
outlines of arches, it is grand and be- 
coming. 

There is usually a stage in the hall 
and there is a place to make a palm 
display of the finest kind. If flowering 
plants are used they are usually col- 
ored azaleas and poinsettias. The lat- 
ter is now a standard decor-attve plant 
in many cities, and always wanted in 
decorations around the holidays. It is 
associated with ChrMstmas as much as 
the holly berries, and with us is 
known as the Christmas flower. 



Church Decorations. 

Church decorations are sometimes 
very elaboi-ate, palms being of the 
greatest service, and many times the 
flowers used must be only white. 
There is where our Lilium Harrisii 
and L. longiflomtm are of so great a 
value, and early white chrysanthe- 
mums in the fall. In addition to the 
palms, some perfectly fresh, clean, 
handsome bay trees, both the standar.l 
and pyramidal, can be used with great 
effect, their formal .'■hape, that might 
look stiff and awkward in a drawing 
room, is in keeping with the solemn 
tone and architectui-e of a church. 

Easter decoi'ations have undergone 
a great change, and it has been largely 
l)y the will of the pastors. In addition 
to their sacred ideas they have also 
secular notions, and among them is 
one that it is a waste of money for the 
congregation to donate a hundred dol- 
lars, more or le-s, for flowers; they 
believe it would be better added to 
their salary or given to the poor, as if 
the florist was not poor enough. So 
many a church decoration no longer 
exi.sts among our regular orders, but 
there ar-e just as many plants sold 
which are sent as offerings to the 
church, and "the ladies of the congre- 
gation, assisted by the deacons, ar- 
range the douatiuus," and then tn« 
Monday morning paper says: "The in- 
terior of beautiful St. William's was a 
Ijower of beauty, blending its incense 
with the heavenly music so ably ren- 
dered by the efficient choir under the 
ilirection of Prof. Plat." 

Some churches still give you a flxed 
sum and ask you to make as good a 
show as you can for the money. And 
as no flowering plants should ever be 
loaned they ask that the plants be 
those that can be given to the poor 
and sick of the parish after the festi- 
val is over. A very beautiful pr-actice. 
You have given joy to the poor who re- 
ceived them and helped the poor who 
grew them. 

Designs as memorials to tho=e who 
have gone before are now entirely out 
of fashion. Even the Easter cross, 
once so universally used on this occa- 
sion, is now not asked for, as the altar 
is furnished with a gold or silver cross 
presented by some wealthy member of 
the congregation. With all this our 
churches are beautiful with flowers 
sent by members of the church, and 
what is good and sensible about it is 
that it is not confined to any one or- 
two denominations, but Episcopal and 
Methodist, Presbyterian and Unita- 
rian celebr-ate with flowers and music. 
This is right. If it is a glad day for 
(me sect it must be for all. 

Other Decorations. 

I have made luention of the leading 
events at which the florist and his 
material is called for to make the 
home, the hall or the church rad'ant 
with flowers and foliage. Any little 
social event, from a progressive euchre 
party to a grand reception, wants 
some little decoration, even if it Is 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



69 



only a bunch of flowers. The use of 
palms, however, is getting to be al- 
most overdone. At the most common- 
place dance they want palms for the 
stage. That is all right. And in the 
house of mourning or the room where 
the departed rests a few palms stood 
around cannot be bad taste, but for 
every grammar school commence- 
ment, every political meeting, a few 
palms are wanted, and the first thing 
you know there will be a group of 
palms in Sharkey and McCoy's corner. 
Even this would be good taste above 
that of giving a half dead six day 
bicycle rider a basket of flowers, or 
presenting Mike McSluggum with a 
bouquet when he goes to bat. When 
that occurs and I am in the grand 



add to the beauty of the home, the 
church, the hall, and to the enjoy- 
ment of all, but when shabby and 
shoddy they are an abomination. There 
is nothing so beautiful as a flower, ana 
it is more beautiful on the plant than 
anywhere else. A faded flower can b" 
cherished only for some sentiment and 
is kept in the leaves of the book you 
refer to when receiving a curtain lec- 
ture from your second wife. 

You will expect me to say some- 
thing about prices, but it is impossi- 
ble. Seasons alter prices. There is. 
ihoweiveir, one thing we should ob- 
serve. The charge for loaning palms 
in January should be double that in 
June. You may think it all right to 
cut down your neighbor's price on 




Copyright 1»W by H. F. Kelsey. 
Galax Leaves. 



siand I am ashamed of my calling and 
wish I was a walking delegate. 

The basket of flowers for M.Uer ami 
the bouquet for Mike are always paid 
for, and generally at a good price, but 
there are scores of times when our 
dozens of palms are not paid for. The 
public seems to think the cost noth- 
ing, nor the carting either. We must 
close down on it. If they paid $3 or $4 
for the loan of a dozen palms it would 
stop them, and it would be just as well 
if it did. The common use of these 
ornamental plants will turn our 
wealthier people against -them. 

Decorations of any kind, plants or 
flowers, great or little, when well done, 



palms and so get the job by a lower 
figure. You will find it is not all 
profit. Every time your palms go out 
they are of less value, however well 
you protect and guard them. 

One other thing. Get a reputation 
for having clean, healthy, perfect 
palms, and above all have a reputa- 
tion for having the job done at the 
hour you agree to. If the wedding is 
at 6 p. m., say to the lady of the 
house: "Madam, I will be out of your 
house at 4 p. m., all cleared up, and 
you will have no occasion to worry." 
See that you keep your word and you 
will feel as good as I do at finishing 
this rather long chapter. 



DECORATIVE MATERIAL (WILD.) 

The great use of our wild or native 
plants for decorations dates from 
about twenty years ago and is ever on 
the increase. An incentive to it wa-; 
the much greater obssrvance of Chri:t- 
niRs day as a church festival and our 
greatest and most joyous holiday. The 
hundreds of car loads of holly used in 
our nortbern cities today had a very 
small beginning. It is just twenty 
two years ago that a patron of mine, 
a lovely woman, one of those who 
make you glad you live and contented 
with your lot, sent me a holly wreath 
on Christmas eve. She had brought it 
from New York City, and thought it 
would be a novelty and a pleasure to 
rae. It was both. It brought vividly 
to mind the days of "auld lang syne" 
and the mother country, which, how- 
ever true and loyal is your allegiance 
to your adopted country, must and 
.should forever remain a warm spot in 
the heart of every man worthy of the 
name. 

For a few years the use of holly in- 
ci-eased slowly, but for several years 
past immense quantities have been 
sent north, and it must grow in unlim- 
ited areas to stand the annual drain of 
our holiday wants. Most florists who 
grow and retail have to handle these 
native decorative materials, and how 
to preserve them in good order is of 
chief importance. 

Holly arrives from beginning to en I 
of December. It is made into wreath- 
ing, but much larger quantities are 
used as sprays and branches. Holly 
wreaths, either all holly, or ground 
pine and holly, are made and sold in 
enormous quantities. The large 
wreaths of holly, two and three feet in 
diameter, are handsome and look well 
in large decoi-ations. It should whe:i 
received be kept in the cases and they 
should be stored in a cold shed, but 
not where they will get zero weather. 
When frozen so hard the berries drop 
off when thawed out. Cool but not too 
cold is right. I have never found a 
better place for the wreaths when 
made than a cold, dark cellar, but in 
the absence of that a cold frame with 
some coarse paper to lay them on, and 
not more than three or four deep will 
do, and cover the glass with mats or 
boards to keep out the light and exces- 
sive cold. You can't make these 
wreaths all on Christmas eve, and 
have to begin making up a week or 
more ahead. 

Ground pine or lycopodium, which 
.\lr. and Mrs. Poor Lo and family 
gather in the woods of Wisconsin, Is 
easily kept. It comes in crates and 
should be always kept outside, but 
covered with a cloth of some kind, or 
the exposed parts quickly get browned. 
It will keep a long time, fresh and 
green in the ci'ates or made into 
wreaths or wreathing, if kept cool and 
dark; beneath a bench in a cool house 
or in the cold frame will do. When 
we bring in the bundles to prepare for 
making up, dip each bunch in water 
for a minute or two; it will make It 



70 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 




Coii> right 1S1« by H. P. KelSL-y. 
Leucothoe Sprays. 



more pliable and easier to work up, 
but don't leave it in the tub over night 
or it will turn black after you have 
made it into the wreaths. 

Mistletoe is imported from France. 
We have the southern mistletoe, but 
it is not the kind the Druids worshiped 
and has no such associations, and al- 
though it may answer the purpose 
(the pleasant purpo.;e) of kissing your 
wife's sister beneath, it is not the real 
thing. It seemed in better demand 
than ever last year, and as its privi- 
lege powers are better known it will 
be a favorite with young and old of 
both sexes. I think last Christmas 
was the first season that we had any 
more than realized the cost of it. It 
had been in other years mauled about 
in a dry store for a few days till there 
was nothing but the bare twigs left. 
We placed it in a cool, moist, dark 
cellar, and handled it just as little as 
possible, only to sort it over into 25 
cent, 50 cent, $1, $2 or $3 sprays, and 
in that way were not only able to fur- 
nish nice berried pieces, but made a 
little money besides. It's not a large 
commercial transaction, but you may 
as well do it right. 

Laurel, so called (Kalmia latifolia), 
is the finest material for wreathing, 
and thousands of yards are used for 
many and various kinds of decora- 
tions. It lasts a long time in good ap- 
pearance, fresh and no dropping of 
leaves. It Is clean and pleasant to 
handle. Though not so cheap as the 
ground pine wreathing, it is a hun- 
dred times richer in effect. Laurel is 
procured from the Allegheny moun- 
tains at any time and is widely distrib- 
uted. It will keep after cutting a long 
time in any cool place. 

The branches of the noble Magnolia 
grandiflora, which grows in latitudes 



where the thermometer does not go 
below 15 degrees ot frost, makes a 
fine decoration, and should always be 
used in spiays or branches. The fine, 
bright glossy green of the leaf is seen 
to great advantage contrasting with 
the bronze old gold color of the 
underside of the leaf. The branches 
when received should be kept cool and 
moist and not exposed to hard freez- 
ing or allowed to shrivel from dry- 
ness. 

The leucothoe sprays are a more re- 
cent introduction and are very orna- 
mental. They make magnificent 
wreaths or wreathing, being excep- 
tionally easy to handle for this pur- 
pose. Their u.<=e is not confined to the 
•holidays; like the laurel, they are 
used thoughout the winter months. 
Keep cool and moist. 

Though small in bulk, the greatest 
in value of all the wild plants is the 
galax, the leaves of which are ii«ed 
for wreaths, panels, all designs em- 



blematic and of good luck. It is, how- 
ever, for funeral designs that the 
greatest quantity is used. They have 
grown steadily in favor till last year 
an aggregate of twelve millions were 
sent north. The small, green leaves 
are now largely used to encircle a 
bunch of violets. They have one groat 
quality, for whatever purpose used 
they are most lasting, and when a de- 
sign has to be sent away a few hun- 
dred miles they are often chosen for 
that excellent quality. 

Mr. Harlan P. Kelsey, of Boston, 
who introduced the galax leaves to 
our northern market in 1890, says the 
sale has steadily increased till last year 
he alone handled some seven millions, 
while the price has come down from 
$3 per 1,000 to $1 to the retail florist, 
and inferior leaves much below that 
even. There has been a considerable 
lot exported to Europe the past two_ 
.seasons, and Mr. K'elsey says Ger- 
many takes the bulk of them. 

Florists who have not the conven- 
iences for keeping them over winter 
in large quantities had better get 
them in moderate quantities occasion- 
ally from those who understand keep- 
ing them in cold storage. We saw a 
case of twenty thousand put down in 
a warm cellar last November, just as 
they arrived in the box, and we saw 
'mi^st of those come up the cellar 
stairs again at intervals this winter 
and spring heated and useless. If they 
had been unpacked, the bunches laid 
out and a little damp sphagnum laid 
between each layer, this careless and 
ignorant mistake would not have oc- 
curred, but the cooler the cellar the 
better. 

This instance of how not to keep 
galax leaves was not an accident; it 
was neglect, for which in the old 
harsh days men used to lose their 
jobs; but since store clerks (alias 
shopmen) wear five-inch stiff collars 
and part their hair in the middle, it 
hurts their feelings to instruct them. 

There are besides the southern 
material, evergreens from our north- 
ern woods that we use for different 
decorations. The common hemlock 
(Abies canadensis) is quite graceful in 
wreathing, and the American arbor- 



Kelsey's Southern 
(ialax Leaves and Leucothoe Sprays 




Write the iiitro(iucer for latest prices and infurinatioii. 



Brilliant Green and Bronze. 

Long Wiry Stems. Packed in Original Cases. 



Only the Richest Colored 
Firm Leaves sent out. 



Ir^li »LD direct ur Jrop a postal a 
Wj sale florist handling my su 
' ' vou. Vou will save disapp 



I and tiienanu'of the whole- 

superior stock will be sent 

_. ___ _. _ ..appointment by insisting on 

having my stock. Most of the "cheap" leaves ottered are 

my discarded "culls." Always address 



A large stock of finest Galax and Sprays always kept in 
cold storage in Boston for shipment during the summer. 



HARLAN P. KELSEY, 

IIOGTremontBldg., BOSTON, MASS. 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



7i 




vitae, often called white cedar, is use- 
ful. A drive of a few miles to tlie 
music of sleigh bells and frozen toe^ 
brings us to the home of our ever- 
greens, and the white spruce, so much 
used for Christmas trees, is also founJ. 
although the well-grown Norway 
spruce makes the ideal Christmas tree. 
Fancy what beautiful Christmas trees 
they get in Leadville, Col., where the 
beautiful Colorado blue spruce grows 
on the mountain side, and with us it 
is about $2.00 a foot. Wei will not be 
jealous of their noble conifers, for 
perhaps their rocky slopes are not 
covered with golden rod as are our 
fields and lanes just now, and how 
beautiful. 

DECORATIVE PLANTS. 

Besides the plants that are grown 
and kept for decorative purposes for 
special occasions, much of our glass, 
and acres of glass in large establish- 
ments, are devoted to the growing of 
idants used in a decorative way, either 
as permanent adornments of the housa 
or (or the florist's use when filling an 
order. 



Exhibition Group of Decorative Plants. 

Generally when plants are known as 
decorative it is meant those whose 
foliage is ornamental rather than 
their flowers, and my remarks under 
this head will be confined mostly to 
those of the former class. 

Palms. 

Palms are pre-eminently ahead of 
all others for this purpose. Of the 
species or varieties adapted to the 
purpose there is at present not a great 
number. They must be of fairly quick 
growth, not easily hurt by a low tem- 
perature and able to stand a good deal 
of rough handling. 

The Areca lutescens I place ahead of 
all as the handsomest. It Is light and 
gi-aceful. Next the Kentias Porster- 
iana and Belmoreana. These, like the 
areca, are fine in effect whether used 
singly or in a group. The Phoenix, es- 
pecially rupic'ola, comes next, although 
these do not blend in a group and are 
best as small or medium sized speci- 
mens, where they can show off their 
graceful outlines. The Latania bor- 
bonica is flne where you can find a 
suitable place. We are sometimes (in 



fact often) asked to place a palm in 
a fire-place, and there is the spot for a 
latania. Like the phoenix, its spread- 
ing growth makes it not so well suited 
for mixing in with the tall growing 
palms, however handsome it is indi- 
vidually. The graceful little Cocos 
Weddeliana is very valuable on many 
occasions. When two or thi-ee feet 
high and in good order, there is noth- 
ing more beautiful. 

There are many other palms that 
are just as ornamental as the well- 
known kinds mentioned, but their 
variety and value foi-bid their use. 
And again, the kentias and arecas 
have entirely displaced such quick- 
growing but soft kinds as seaforthia. 

Cycas revoluta makes a grand orna- 
ment where it can be used in a, very 
large plant vase, perhaps at the end 
of a room or hall, but should be so 
placed that its perfect outline can be 
seen or it will not be appreciated. 

As to the hardiness or ability to 
stand rough usage, of these palms I 
think there is not the slightest doubt 
that the phoenix are the best. We 
have a pair of P. rupicola that in the 



72 

course of Ave or six years must have 
heard the congratulations of the 
bride's friends, or endured the orches- 
tra's strains, the Easter and Christ- 
mas sermons, the orator's eloquence, 
and the chilly ride to and fro, a thou- 
sand times, and still they come up 
smiling. There is nothing like the 
phoenix in this respect. 

The kentias come next tor keeping 
iu fair order, but kentias, grand house 
plants as they are, do not like the 
slightest frost. 1 have noticed that 
where latanias and arecas have been 
(■arelesslv exposed to a degree of frost 
they will recover, butnot so with the 
kentias. The arecas will answer the 
purpose for a long time if the leaves 
are carefully tied when they go out. 
and this care should also be given the 
kentias. The latanias suffer most, not 
because they are more tender, but 
their broad leaves get more easily 
broken and become unsightly. 

I remarked under the head of deco- 
rations that the charge should be 
about twice as much in January as in 
June This is quite true, after May 1st 
till November 1st it does little harm 
to palms to give them a day and a 
night or more in a hall or room, and 
if the leaves are drawn up and care- 
fully tied with rafha they can be sent 
out" in an open wagon. When the 
thermometer is 10 degrees below zero 
it is very different. In addition to the 
wagon that is heated you have to tie 
up each plant and cover with paper or 
a bag, for the distance from the curb- 
stone to the door 'of the house is fie- 
(lueiitly enough to ruin your palms it 
not protected. Others use long boxes, 
each holding a halt dozen plants. As 
these are packed in the warm shed 
and the tight cover put on. and the 
box carried into a warm hall or vesti- 
Inilp before they are unpacked, the 
palms seldom get injured by cold, but 
careful and thorough tying up of the 
leaves is more of a necessity even 
than when sent in a heated wagon. 
Never scrimp the time in tying up the 
palms. If you do you will soon have 
to buy more, because yours will be 
shabby, and the price of one good areca 
or kentia six or seven feet high will 
pay for many hours' labor on the 
palms. 

Dracaenas. 
Next to the palms the dracaenas are 
most useful and effective. On mantels, 
side-boards or tables, perfect speci- 
mens of D. terminalis stricta, D. ama- 
bilis, or any of the beautiful hybrids, 
can't be equaled. And for situations 
wanting larger plants well-grown 
.specimens of D. nova-caledonica. D. 
fragrans and D. Lindenii are superb, 
and they should always be so situatci; 
that the entire plant can be seen. I), 
indivisa is, of cours;, very common, 
but it is so hardy and tough that it is 
for many places one of the very best 
decorative plants we have. Dracaenas 
of the terminalis and fragrans type 
want no exposure to the cold, but they 
are easily packed and their leaves can 
be brought up and tied close to the 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 

stem with strips of tissue paper with- 
out doing any harm. , 

Crotons. 

On all occasions except during cold 
weather crotons are gorgeous and 
grand plants for decorations, but they 
must not be chilled. My experience is 
that if a croton is exposed to a tem- 
perature of 40 degrees tor an hour it 
will drop its handsome leaves, and in 
the winter we sometimes expose our 
palms and dracaenas to a lower tem- 
perature than that without much or 
any damage. So large plants of cro- 
tons had better be kept at home. 

Small plants of crotons are now 
raised and sold almost as cheaply as 
fuchsias or geraniums, and if you do 
lose them you have possibly charged 
enough for the job to consider it no 
loss. For a mantel decoiation with 
vases of flowers, or for plants for a 
banquet table nothing can be finer 
than the many grand varieties of cro- 
tons. 

Adiantums. 

Several species of ferns are among 
the leading articles of our decorative 
stuff. It must depend upon how elab- 
orate and expensive the decoration is 
whether you can use the very choicest 
ferns. Sometimes at the bottom of a 
mirror a bank of Adiantum Farleyen.se 
is made as a background to a display 
of orchids, and what could be finer? 
Adiantum cuneatum, besides its great 
usefulness in supplying cat fronds, is 
many times used as a ffiiigs or bank, 
and if the fronds are well matured 
will keep pretty well, but if young 
growth they will soon snrivcl up in a 
warm, dry room. 

Asparagus. 

The Asparagus Sprengeri is a gr.:at 
acquisition, and is and will be largely 
used. Its pendent growths make it 
just the plant to hang from mantels or 
book cases, or to cover unsightly pots. 
Some plants in four and live inch 
pots, with a good growtii, should al- 
ways be on hand, and so shoull bas- 
kets of this useful plan'.. There is 
scarcely a plant that so r.3ir.'.'y adapts 
itself to the very unnatural condi- 
tions of a hanging basket. Its great 
freedom of growth and hardiness un- 
der neglect and abuse may make it too 
common, but not just yet. It is un- 
necessairy to say that this plant 
thrives under the most unfavorable 
conditions— sun or shade, wet or dry. 
I have tried it in many pluces f.nd 
find it endures the gas, the wild exag- 
gerations, the anecdotes and clas.sicai 
quotations of a suburban barber shop; 
and the aspidistra is the only other 
plant that is known to have lived 
through that oideal. The Ficus elas- 
tica has been tried in tonsorial envi- 
ronments, but says: "I have got some 
credit as a stretcher, but that last 
yarn kills me." 

Nephrolepis. 

Most of our ornameu'ai terns are 
too tender for decorative purposes 



except that splendid genus, the ne- 
phrolepis. N. tuberosa is now super- 
seded for indoor use by N. exaltata 
and Bostoniensis. The latter is one of 
the greatest acquisitions that we have 
had for years. Whether in a mass or 
a large specimen, or in a large hang- 
ing basket. It is most ornamental, and 
receives not the slightest harm Ironi 
an occasional trip to a party or ball- 
room. It is in fact a first-class house 
plant, so it must be valuable as a dec- 
orator. 

Flowering Plants. 
Unless you are well paid for the dec- 
oration you cannot afford to loan 
many flowering plants. For a church 
decoration we are never asked, but tor 
a private function we have to, and 
must make out our bill or estimate 
accordingly. 

- Beginning in the fall the chrysan- 
themums are most in favor. Groups of 
yellow or pink or white varieties are 
often called for. However good the 
fare given these plants they 'are 
shaky after a night in a room where 
there has been a strong glare of gas 
and a crowd of people. 

Here will be a good place to men- 
tion that the cause of carnations (and 
perhaps other llovr-ers) closing up iu 
one night in a room or hall that has 
been crowded with people is the fact 
that there has been such a crowd of 
people. We have noticed this in both 
large and small rooms, and it was a'.sj 
noticed in one of the plant houses at 
Schenley Park in Pittsburg, where 
many thousands of people pass 3d 
through in one day. The carnations 
collapsed, other flowers did not. But 
if it has this effect on carnations the 
breath of the multitude in one room 
can't be good for any flowers. And as 
a rule when a plant goes to a decora- 
tion we expect it to return much the 
worse tor wear. 

Azaleas, from December to May. are 
the finest of our decorative plants, and 
after a few days for recuperation are 
again of service. 

At the holidays the poinsettia is 
with us a leading article and is now 
closely associated with Christmas 
They droop quickly if they receive 
anything like a chill. 

From November on the Liliums 
Harrisii and longiflorum are always 
in demand. 

Spiraea wilts worse than any other 
plant, and should receive an extra 
soaking of water before going out. 

Plants of lilac, deutzia, Ghent azalea 
and cytisus are used largely in the late 
winter and spring months. 

Whole flats of tulips, narcissi and 
hyacinths are often used, with ribbons 
to match the colors of the flowers. 
There is no variety of tulip so fine for 
decorating, either in pans or flats, as 
the double Murillo, almost pure white 
when first opening, but assuming on 
its velvety petals the finest shade of 
blush pink, and so large. 
Conclusion. 
I can't be expected to exhaust the 
full list of the many plants, both 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



n 




Plant of Deotzia Gracilis, trimmed with ribbon. 



foliage and flowering, that are useful 
in decorating. There are few plants 
but what have a distinct beauty if 
well grown. And you will have many 
tastes and many grades of purses to 
accommodate. 

No plants should go to a decoration 
unless they are clean and in good or- 
der. No dirty pots should ever go. 
never mind whether they are to be 
hidden or not. It's enough to turn 
the hostess against you when she sees 
them enter her door. 

One very important thing is this: 
All plants that are taken out and ex- 
pected to keep their heads up and look 
well all the afternoon and evening 
should be well watered an hour or two 
before they are packed for their dress 
parade, which the entertainment is to 
them. 

We find it unwise to mix up the 
palms and dracaenas that we use for 
decorations with the stock that is 
kept for sale. However careful you 
are some little marring will be sure 
to occur, and it you are not careful ycu 
will have your whole collection, per- 
haps a fine one to look at in the aggre- 
gate, but when you want a perfect 
kentia, green to the very tips, you 
won't find it among those that have 
been out visiting. 

Let the line be drawn between those 
you loan and those you want to sell, 



and if you do much decorating you 
will want every summer a good house 
cleaning. Give your worn-out palms 
to the nearest botanical garden, or to 
the rubbish pile when beyond a certain 
degree of shabbiness. It is most un- 
profitable to occupy space with use- 
less old runts. 

DEUTZIA. 

Several of the species are among our 
earliest and best known flowering 
shrubs, and gracilis, the smaller grow- 
ing pure white species, is largely forced 
as an Easter plant. It is sold in pots 
or used for decorations, or the cut 
sprays are used. There is a new form 
of gracilis called Lemoineii, quite 
double, a beautiful flower and more 
lasting than the single. The double 
form is not yet quite so common and 
consequently is more expensive, but it 
will soon be grown as plentifully as 
gracilis. Plants for forcing of any size 
can be imported so cheaply and so 
well and compactly grown that it is 
useless to attempt to grow plants for 
forcing; they would cost you far more. 

Those wanting to grow them to raise 
in the nursery for flowering shrubs 
:an root them most easily from the 
young tender shoots taken from forced 
plants in February or March and put 
into the ordinary propagating bed or 



from outside cuttings in June put into 
sand in a hot-bed. 

When you receive the deutzias in 
the month of November don't expose 
them to zero weather. They are a 
hardy plant, but after their sea voy- 
age are poorly prepared for a hard 
freeze. The stems are studded to their 
tips with their flowering buds, so they 
svant no pruning or you will get no 
flowers. Keep them protected by a 
cold-frame and their roots covered till 
you pot them up for forcing. They 
should have about seven weeks under 
glass in a night temperature of 50 de- 
grees, then they will be nicely out and 
not unduly forced. 

For forcing we prefer to buy every 
year, but unsold plants if planted out 
make good bushes for selling with 
ither hardy shrubs. 

DIANTHUS, 

To this genus belongs our Divine 
flower the carnation, which has been 
treated at length as its value deserves. 
D. barbatus is the well known Sweet 
William, a splendid border plant while 
in bloom but not of any commercial 
value. Perhaps because seen too often 
in the humblest gardens, or for some 
reason not apparent, it is not a flower 
that can be used in the commonest 
bouquet, though in June and July it 
makes a splendid show of bloom of the 
richest tints and markings. 

The seed of the Sweet Williams can 
be sown in May in a. cold-frame and 
when the plants are large enough 
transplanted into flats or placed at 
once in the borders where they are to 
flower. They will make fine spread- 
ing plants, and being entirely hardy 
will send up a mass of bloom the fol- 
lowing spring. They are biennials, 
but a few straggling plants and flow- 
ers are often seen to survive two or 
three years. 

The Dianthus chinensis and its 
splendid varieties, Heddewigii and its 
many forms, are the most useful to 
the florist. They also are biennials 
but are invariably treated as annuals 
and sown every spring. For their 
culture follow instructions given un- 
der the heading Aster and you will 
have no trouble. They look well in 
either the mixed border or in a solid 
bed. 

DRACAENA. 

In garden nomenclature the names 
Dracaena and Cordyline are inter- 
changeable, but I prefer to call them 
dracaenas, by which name they are 
commonly known, although botanical 
authorities class some of our dracae- 
nas as cordylines. 

The dracaenas are noble, erect grow- 
ing foliage plants, grown entirely for 
the beauty of their leaves and stately 
habit, for the flower is small and in- 
conspicuous compared to the plant. 
They do not usually flower till they 
attain considerable size, although oc- 
casionally they flower when quite 
young, possibly through some check to 
the vigor of the plant. 



74 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



Though not of equal commercial 
value to the palms as greenhouse and 
hot house decorative plants, they cer- 
tainly rank very high. Some of them 
are excellent plants for the house. I 
have in mind a plant of D. fragrans 
Lindenii some 3 feet high in a 9-inch 
pot, furnished to the pot with its 
beautiful leaves, that has stood sev- 
eral feet from a window in a sitting 
room for the past six months, and is 
to all appearance in perfect health. 
Pandanus utilis, the ideal house plant, 
could not beat this. 

Some of the species may grow 6 
feet or 30 feet in their native habitat, 
and with age have bare stems 
crowned with a tuft of leaves, but our 
object in growing them as small or 



Except in the darkest days of win- 
ter dracaenas should have a thorough 
daily syringing. By thorough is meant 
that every particle of the underside of 
the leaf should receive a good force 
from the syringe or hose. This ne- 
cessitates a good condition of the soil 
that the water will pass freely 
through. The moisture arising from 
the syringing is conducive to growth, 
but a necessity as well to keep down 
thrip and red spider, which are very 
fond of dracaenas, especially the ter- 
minalis type, and will soon ruin the 
appearance of the leaf if allowed to 
commence their work. 

Propagation in nearly all species is 
by cuttings, which grow from the ri- 
pened stems. The leading shoot will 




Dracaena Lindenii. 



medium sized decorative plants is to 
preserve the leaves to the very bottom 
of the stem and with the best cultiva- 
tion they will carry their bottom 
leaves for some years. 

It is noticeable that the fragrans 
type (tropical Africa) will bear and 
require 10 degrees more heat in the 
winter time than the terminalis and 
the high colored varieties. The ter- 
minalis type will do very well in a 
minimum winter temperature of 55 to 
60 degrees, while fragrans and its va- 
rieties and Goldieana require 10 de- 
grees higher. Fragrans also wants a 
good shade in the ' summer months, 
while the varieties of terminalis need 
shade only from the brightest rays of 
the sun. 



root freely but this would be a very 
slow process, so stems are imported, 
or the ripened stems of old plants are 
used. They can be cut up into pieces 
one to tW'O inches long, or the whole 
length of the stem can be laid in the 
propagating bed. A good mixture for 
the propagating bed is coarse sand 
and chopped sphagnum in equal parts, 
and the heat of the bed should be 80 
degrees. Let the stem be even with 
surface of bed. From the eyes or 
joints will spring young shoots which 
when two or three inches long can be 
cut from the stems, and they quickly 
root in warm sand and are soon on 
the road to make young plants. 

The soil for dracaenas should be a 
good loam, not too finely broken up. 



and a fourth of leaf-mould, and the 
plants potted moderately firm. The 
pots, which should never be larger 
than necessary, should have an inch of 
broken, crocks covered with a layer 
of green moss; this is as near good 
drainage as you can get. 

Some of the species are very beauti- 
ful, but more suitable for the private 
collection than for the commercial 
man. 

D. Draco: Very suitable for sub- 
tropical gardening or for vases. 

D. Goldieana; Beautifully marked 
with dark green and silvery grey. 

D. fragrans: This is one of the fin- 
est species, requiring a good heat in 
winter and shade in summer. 

D. fragrans Lindenii: Same habit 
as fragrans but the leaf has a series of 
stripes of creamy white or yellow on 
each side of the green center. 

D. Massangeana; Another variegat- 
ed form of D. fragrans, the chief dis- 
tinction from Lindenii being that the 
variegation appears in a broad band 
of yellow or cream color throughout 
the center of the leaf. 

D. australis: A fine plant for out- 
side decoration. 

D. Novo-Caledonica: A fine bold 
species with large bronze leaves. 

D. Sanderiana: An upright striped 
green and white species of recent in- 
troduction which has proved very 
good for the center of large ferneries, 
and which stands the dry air of rooms 
admirably. 

D. terminalis: Green or bronze when 
young. With age the leaves assume 
fine shades of scarlet or crimson. Most 
generally cultivated of all dracaenas 
and the parent of scores of the finest 
varieties. The following will be found 
to be beautiful and distinct sorts: 
Metallica. dark purplish bronze; ama- 
bilis, fine habit, glossy green suffused 
with pink and white; Baptistii, green 
margined with yellow and pink; im- 
perialis, broad deep green leaves, the 
younger leaves crimson and pink; ter- 
minalis stricta grandis, the most 
highly colored and best of the ter- 
minalis form: Youugii, bright green 
streaked with deep red; and Lord 
Wolsley, Gladstoneii, Rel5ecca, Bella, 
Scottii, and Annerleyense, are all 
beautiful varieties. 

D. indivisa: A distinct species from 
New Zealand. It will thrive in a 
much lower temperature than any of 
the others except Draco. There are 
several varieties of indivisa, the best 
of which are Veitchii and lineata. Un- 
like the other dracaenas this one is 
easily and quickly raised from seed. 
If it were propagated only by cuttings 
how highly prized it would be, for no 
dracaena has more grace. What makes 
it most valuable to the commercial 
florist is its ability to withstand the 
sun and drought to which it is ex- 
posed throughout the summer in our 
cemetery vases. It not only lives un- 
der these unfavorable conditions but 
flourishes. When three or four feet 
high if in good order it makes a splen- 
did decorative plant that will endure 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



75 



any amount of hard usage, in fact 
anything but freezing, and we know 
that it even comes out of a slight frost 
unhurt. The seed, which is very 
cheap, should be sown in flats in win- 
ter or spring. We prefer to grow 
them the first year under glass, and 
the second spring plant them out in 
some good light, rich soil. The fol- 
lowing fall they are lifted and potted 
in 4 or 5-inch pots and used largely 
the following spring for our vases and 
veranda boxes. I know of no plant 
of its value that is so easy to grow 
and of so great a use to the florist. 
If short of room we have stood the 
small plants under a light bench in 
a cool house and kept them rather 
dry, where they have done well, but 
if you want them to grow during win- 
ter they should have 50 degrees at 
night, plenty of sjTinging with the 
hose, and they are troubled with noth- 
ing. In a few hundred seedlings you 
will see quite a variation of character: 
some with leaves almost a bronze red. 
They should be put aside and grown 
on with care; they may turn out to be 
of great beauty and value. 

DRAINAGE. 

There is nothing much more puzzl- 
ing to the beginner in floriculture than 
the word "drainage" when applied to 




Dracaena Fragrans. 




Dracacni Massangeana. 



potted plants, especially as some 
authors of recent years have ignored 
the theory of drainage entirely and 
pronounced it wrong in theory and a 
waste of money and time in practice. 
There are few farmers, nurserymen or 
market gardeners who do not believe 



in the practice of draining. Some land 
may need it more than others but all 
are benefited by a system of drainage 
except it be a good loam lying on a 
gravel. 

I am not going into the art of drain- 
ing land but the principle, if right 



with land is right in our flower pots. 
Year's ago it was carried out to an ab- 
surdity. A piece of crock in the bot- 
tom of a 4-inch geranium or canna is 
absurd and no one does such a thing 
now. If a plant is going to stop in a 
pot but a few weeks or even a few 
months and is necessarily a quick and 
strong rooter like a lily there is no 
need of any drainage. In the case of 
plants that may stop a year, or per- 
haps two or three years, in the same 
pot, if you were sure that the water 
was always going to pass freely away 
as it does at the first month or two, 
there would be no need of drainage, 
but worms get in and work the soil 
into a putty state, or the soil gets so 
packed at the bottom of the pot that 
water does not pass away frefely. 

Much as plants enjoy the watering 
when in need of it, terrestrial plants 
don't exactly feed on it. The water 
passes away, leaves the soil moist 
and full of moist air spaces, which the 
roots are continually absorbing till it 
is gone and they want more. See how 
easy it is to kill most any plant when 
the water remains in the pot and 
keeps the soil for a few days saturated. 
So plants want water to pass through 
the soil but not remain there, and 
with all plants that are going to re- 
main any time in the same pot (aza- 
leas are a good example) they should 
have what we call drainage. 

With pots not over five inches in di- 
ameter a broad crock at the bottom 
covered with a piece of green moss, 
and with larger pots in addition to 
the piece of crock covering the hole 
an inch or so of broken crocks and the 
moss. The green wood moss is much 
better for the purpose than sphagnum 



76 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



because the sphagnum soon rots and 
the compost gets down among the 
crocks. You will sometimes see the 
healthiest and strongest roots of a 
plant down among the crocks. I be- 
lieve it is because they find there the 
conditions to suit them best — perfect 
drainage. 

How particular we are that the 
benches of our carnations aud roses 
are drained by simply keeping the 
boards V2 or % inch apart, so that 
if watered heavily it can pass quickly 
away. And so long as our flower pots 
are made with that one small hole we 
will have to make provisions to let 
water escape freely. The author who 
30 years ago laughed at the "old fogy" 
notion of draining a flower pot lived 
to alter his opinion and freely ack- 
nowledged it. 



just in perfection, so much as at 
Easter. Nine-tenths of all the plants 
are delivered on the Friday and Sat- 
urday, and must be at their best on 
Easter morning. If a batch of flower- 
ing plants are at their best one week 
ahead of time, they will be very un- 
satisfactory to your customers, and if 
a few days too late it Is often nearly a 
total loss. Many of us can remember 
having some hundreds of lilies that 
would have sold for one dollar each 
on Easter morning, or rather the day 
before, had they each two or three 
flowers open, but were sold the fol- 
lowing week at 10 cents a stalk, and 
the same with other plants. The quan- 
tity grown for Easter, if attractive, 
would bring a good price, but if late 
the supply is ten times in excess of 
the demand, the day is over, and they 



many more will be added to the calen- 
dar. 

Life is a continuous holiday to some 
and endless and hopeless drudgery to 
others. This is all wrong and was 
never ordained so. We have only re- 
cently (for five centuries is but a 
speck in the history of man) emerged 
from the feudal system, and but yes- 
terday emancipated millions of slaves. 
Hopeless starvation wages is also 
slavery with a tincture of uncertainty 
added to its bitterness. The "white 
man's burden" is not so much the 
care of millions of a race or races 
who never yet have evolved to a high 
state of civilization and are still happy 
in their primitive life. The great bur- 
den of all of us is to bring about a 
better and happier condition of the 
fellow being whom we meet and see 




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Lilies, in celluloid basket trimmed with white ribbon. 



Hydrangea, trimmed with crepe paper. 



EASTER PLANTS. 

Easter day is undoubtedly the great- 
est floral festival of the entire year. 
For many years it has been the cus- 
tom to trim and decorate our churches 
of all denominations with plants and 
flowers, but, apart from that, it is the 
custom now to give and receive from 
friends a pretty plant or box of flow- 
ers. The Easter card is gone and a 
plant has taken its place. It is the 
day on which thousands visit the 
cemeteries, perhaps the flrst visit of 
the spring to the resting place of the 
departed, that for months has been 
covered with snow. So several causes 
tend to make this a busy time with 
the florist, but the most commendable 
fashion of remembering friends near 
and even distant with a pretty flower- 
ing plant and Easter greeting sur- 
passes all other demands for flowers 
and plants, and I see no reason why 
this virtuous practice should ever 
drop from public favor. 

There is no other occasion when 
plants and flowers must be just right, 



are given away. Another feature of 
the Easter trade is the fact that it is a 
movable festival and occurs any time 
during the month of April, and we 
have seen Easter Sunday a day of ice 
and snow, and again on the 25th of 
April I remember having nights of 70 
degrees and fanning ourselves on the 
veranda. 

To digress a moment. Why can't 
Easter Sunday be fixed for a certain 
date, say the second Sunday in April? 
In these davs of common sense this 
ought to be straightened out. Easter 
Sunday and the days preceding it are 
supposed to commemorate events of 
solemn moment to sincere Christians, 
but as the moon, or the tide, or some- 
thing else, dodges these anniversaries 
all over the month of April, how can 
they have any significance? We be- 
lieve that ages after the events that 
gave rise to Easter and Good Friday 
are lost in oblivion, there will still 
be holidays kept, and let us hope that 
in the coming century the date will 
be fixed for that holiday and that 



every day. Although in a wretchedly 
imperfect state as yet, a better time 
on earth for every man, woman and 
child must surely come. And then 
there will be more holidays for all. 
"Man's inhumanity to man makes 
countless thousands mourn," but ev- 
ery age brings more humanity, and 
justice and right will follow and 
equality for all must come. 

I consider the ability to get in crops 
just when the market is ready tor 
them quite equal to that which pro- 
duces the plants and flowers, and at 
Easter time is when you want to 
exercise that particular line of ability 
to the greatest extent. It will tax 
your knowledge and experience, how- 
ever great they are. Not only is the 
day of the month variable by two or 
three weeks, but the weather also iss 
never two seasons alike. It is a ques- 
tion whether it is better to be what is 
called on the safe side — that is, have 
your plants a little eai'ly, or have 
them rather backward, so that they 
will improve from the day they are 
delivered. Of course, the ideal is to 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



77 



havH them in their best appearance 
on Easter Sunday. If people wanted 
these plants for their own conserva- 
tory or house, then a lily with one 
flower open and four or Ave buds 
would suit the great majority. They 
ask for a lily or azalea "not so much 
blowed out." But 90 per cent of all 
the plants bought are sent as pres- 
ents, and a good showy appearance is 
demanded, and for church decorations 
it is entirely appearance and effect 
that is wanted; however well grown 
a plant may be, it is not wanted un- 
less well in flower. I may add here 
that flowering plants greatly predomi- 
nate at Easter. Occasionally Mr. 
Goodman buys a seven or ten-dollar 
palm for his dear, plump little ducky, 
Ijut that .stops in the family, and the 
vast majority of plants sent as pres- 
ents must be flowering. It is a cheer- 
ful morning with all Christendom and 
flowers are the thing to add to its 
joys. 

We flnd a novelty goes well to a 
limited extent, but they must have 
some good merit to take well, and 
you had better try them in moderate 
quantity the first year. Wealthy com- 
munities in our very large cities will 
purchase a basket or collection of 
plants put up in a fancy basket and 
decorated with ribbon. In this ar- 
rangement there would be no end to 
the varied combinations to tempt the 
corpulent purse. These baskets of 
plants are sold for ten, fifteen or even 
twenty-five dollars, and are works' of 
art, but they have not yet reached the 
general trade. We find a few custom- 
ers willing to spend ten or fifteen 
dollars on a single plant, a great 
many willing to purchase a five-dollar 
azalea, but a far grea'ter number 
whose limit is two dollars. Then there 
is the school child, or the poor per- 
son, who want to make their window 
bright and who can hardly afford 
twenty-five cents for a hyacinth. Our 
trade is made up of all these classes, 
and if you do a general retail trade, 
you must cater to all of them, and be 
just as pleasant and attentive to the 
delegation of little girls who have 
clubbed together to buy tueir school 
teacher a fifty-cent plant as to the 
millionaire who orders a dozen Beau- 
ties at eighteen dollars per dozen. A 
little different manner, you know, but 
just as attentive. 

The delivery of plants at Easter, 
should the weather be cold, as it too 
often is, makes it the most trying day 
of the whole year. At Christmas we 
are prepared for cold weather and ex- 
pect it, and most of the trade then is 
cut flowers, which are easily and safe- 
ly delivered in boxes, and the plants 
are carefully and securely wrapped: 
but we never know til! dawn breaks 
what kind of a day it is going to be 
on the Friday or Saturday before 
Easter. A cold Saturday is a great 
loss to our trade, not only in the 
great expense of wrapping and deliv- 
ery, and breakage of our plants, but 
"we miss hundreds of sales that never 
come again. A. man may put off buy- 




Easter Lilies, dressed with pink ribbon and Asparagus. 



lug a hat or gloves this Saturday, but 
he will get them sure soon, because 
he needs them: but if his coat is 
turned up and fingers cold, he is think- 
ing more about a cocktail and forgets 
that his wife told him to buy a plant 
and send to her friend, Mrs. Expect- 
ant. In many ways a cold time at 
Easter is a calamity to us. 

Great rush as it is, much can be 
done by organizing your force. Men 
or women that make sales should not 
be expected to wrap up the plant. If 
the address and card is handed to the 
delivery department, that's all that 
should be expected of the salesman, 
and the cash or charge handed to the 
gentleman who presides at the desk. 
The man who makes change and slaps 
the charges on file is not so busy but 
what he can keep an eye on what is 
going on; like a man who looks on at 
a game of cards, he can see the right 
card to play better than the partici- 
pant, and he can notice whether a 
clerk by mistake (?) drops $1.75 into 
his own pocket instead of the till, or 
whether that azalea that Mrs. Smith 



so kindly said she would carry out to 
her carriage herself was paid for or 
charged. If we had an Easter Satur- 
day every week, we should be able to 
keep trained help to manage it, but 
we have not, and it is a trying time, 
and a time above all to keep cool. It 
is a busy time, and your customers 
see, and all sensible ones will make 
allowance for a short but civil an- 
swer, and it is all they can get. Woe 
betide the fool of a man or woman 
clerk who wants to chin and chat and 
be funny and extra affable to the cus- 
tomers on these crowded, busy days; 
turn the hose on them if practicable. 
We have found that in the green- 
house, where many of us do our big- 
gest Easter trade, much confusion can 
be saved by devoting a good big bench 
in a house adjacent to the door where 
the wagons are loaded to the plants 
that are bought ahead of time, as 
many are. We make room on the 
bench and cover it with strong, thick 
paper so that the pots when washed 
won't get mussed up again with sand 
or ashes, Thursday begins the deliv- 



78 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



ering. Customers often say when buy- 
ing a plant: "You can send it home 
Thursday or Friday," or another will 
say: "Saturday or Sunday morning, 
whichever you choose." Always choose 
the earliest moment they allow. You 
are sure to have plenty for the last. 
So on that part of the bench nearest 
the door is all of Thursday's deliver- 
ies, the card of the donor fastened on 
with baby ribbon and the address very 
lightly fastened on with wire. It is 
not safe to fasten that address card on 
securely till you see the weather, as 



know the city well and also know a 
great many of the residents. Never 
send a load of twenty or thirty differ- 
ent deliveries with one man. It is 
waste of time. The driver knows the 
route to save time, and the house in 
most cases, and tells his helper that, 
"Here is Mrs. Brown's, who gets that 
lily and that deutzia," and while the 
less valuable man is waiting for Mary 
Ann or Kate to receive the plants the 
driver is studying out his next call. 
Drivers or delivery men are Just like 
those of any other calling; there are 




Azalea, dressed with crepe paper and lace ribbon. 



it may have to be pinned on to the 
wrapping paper that protects the plant 
from chilly blasts. When Thursday 
night comes all of Thursday's deliver- 
ies should he gone, the space devoted 
to Thursday should be clear, and so 
with the other days. Friday's orders 
should be looked out and got ready 
on Thursday and what is sold on Fri- 
day to be delivered that day should 
be put on the table to go out with the 
next load. As long as plants are on 
that Friday bench your wagons have 
not done for the day. 

The delivery man is a very impor- 
tant personage these days. He should 



good and bad, but a good one is a 
jewel. Only smile at calamities that 
can't be helped, such as hailstorms or 
cyclones, but swear to your heart's 
content at the lubber who comes home 
with damaged plants and says. "The 
lilies blowed over and I let that big 
azalea fall." 

There is always a great number of 
plants that you are reasonably sure 
you will sell, and these should all have 
their pots washed a day or two ahead. 
Nothing can be more disgusting than 
a greasy, dirty pot, and no plant 
should be delivered, however cheap, or 



warm the weather, without some wrap- 
ping paper around the pot. 

The lily certainly occupies the most 
important place among Easter plants. 
The Bermuda grown longiflorum is 
the favorite; a single plant in a 5 or 
6-inch pot or three plants in an 8- 
inch. It is seldom that the longiflo- 
rums are too early, and should they 
be a week or ten days ahead of time 
they keep finely in a cool, shaded 
house, but should not be put there till 
at least one flower is open or the 
whole plant and buds will get stunted. 

Azaleas are next in importance and 
perhaps in value of plants sold equal 
the lilies. There is no excuse for hav- 
ing the azaleas out of date because 
they can be kept almost to the fresz- 
ing point during winter and open 
quickly when put into a heat of 60 
degrees at night. There is always a 
good demand for azaleas from Christ- 
mas on, but don't have many left 
after Easter, for people have seen so 
many then that they are tired of them. 

Rhododendrons are seldom too early 
and you do not want many of them. 
A warm house with abundance of 
tyringiug will bring their fine flowers 
out. 

The Ghent or hardy deciduous aza- 
l?as want seven or eight weeks in a 
moderately warm house. They are 
very attractive and do not drop their 
flowers at Easter as they do later in 
warmer weather, and the colors are 
such beautiful shades of yellow, or- 
ange, red and pink that when deco- 
rated with suitable crepe paper they 
sold well last year. 

Lil'acs need about four weeks in the 
greenhouse and always sell well, and 
are so good for cutting if not sold. 

Metrosideros (bottle bnish) is very 
odd and finds favor with a few, but 
the sale is limited. It should be al- 
ways grown one year with us before 
being sold. 

Acacia armata, called often Mimosa 
paradoxa, is a beautiful plant, but 
should not be offered for sale the sea- 
son that it is imported. Cut down 
and grown in pots during the summer 
it makes a beautiful plant the follow- 
ing winter or spring. It will be too 
early for Easter unless kept very cool. 
A. Drummondii is also very pretty and 
can be treated the same way. 

Deutzia gracilis is most easy to 
force and should be given seven to 
eight weeks in the greenhouse. 

Cytisus, although a poor house 
plant, is so floriferous and makes such 
a compact, pretty plant that it is al- 
ways worth growing. Keep very cool 
or they will be over too early. 

Spiraea (astilbe) is always wanted 
for church decoration, and when peo- 
ple learn that a spiraea should always 
136 stood in a saucer with an inch of 
water in it, they will find it a long- 
lasting house plant. 

Mignonette in 4 and 5-inch pots sell 
well and should command a good 
price, as it takes six or seven months 
to grow a good pot. They can't be 
forced; they must come along slowly 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



79 




with a strong, sturdy growth in a 
cool house. 

Lily of the valley in pots and pans 
sells well. 

If made up out of a bed when in 
full bloom they are just as lasting as 
if grown in the rot and a mvich finer 
show can be made. It is just water 
they live on. 

The old Dutch hyacinth always will 
be a favorite with many people. We 
lielieve only good bulbs should be 
used for this purpose. They are grown 
singly in a 4-inch pot. and in groups 
of three or more. A 10 or 12-inch pan 
containing a dozen grand spikes of 
one variety of hyacinths and trimmed 
with the right shade of paper is a 
rich affair and attracts the well-to-do. 

Tulips and daffodils are grown in 6, 
7 and 8-inch pans and find a ready 
sale because they are inexpensive. 

Roses there is always a demand for, 
especially hybrid perpetuals. Plants 
that are lifted from your own grounds 
after the wood is ripe and carefully 
and gradually brought along, need 
from ten to twelve weeks in the green- 
house. The best pot roses I have ever 
seen of this class were a lot of Amer- 
ican Beauty that had grown on a 
bench the previous summer, slightly 
dried off during October and lifted 
during November, potted into 6-inch 



Easter Plant Arrangements. 

pots and kept in a cold pit away from 
severe freezing till middle of January, 
when they were brought in and start- 
ed very cool. By Easter, which was 
then in about eleven weeks, they were 
a great sight: Five or six good 
blooms on 18-inch stems, with lots of 
buds to come. They outsold anything 
we had and would have been a splen- 
did paying crop had we not cut a rose 
the previous summer. 

The Crimson Rambler is. and per- 
haps the other ramblers will become, 
a standard Easter plant. Our experi- 
ence is that if the plants are lifted 
from the ground the previous fall they 
must be brought along very carefully 
and slowly, so you must allow thir- 
teen or fourteen weeks under glass, 
the first half of which they must be 
cool. If the plants have made their 
growth the f.revious summer in pots 
the wood will be better ripejied and 
the roots not being disturbed they can 
be given more heat at the start so 
that ten weeks in the houses will do. 

The white Marguerite, if well 
pinched in the field and kept cool 
during winter, makes a grand plant 
for church decorations. It is truly 
decorative and is one of the very best 
house plants known, blooming and 
flourishing in the dry air of a room for 
weeks. 



Hard.v shrubs of many kinds are oc- 
casionally tried as Easter plants, the 
snowball (viburnum) particularly, but 
we have not found people willing to 
pay for cost of room they have occu- 
pied. 

Don't forget the 25 and 50-cent cus- 
tomers. A good 4-inch zonal gera- 
nium, a hyacinth or a 6-inch pan of 
pansies fills the bill. 

There is a small and select demand 
for a pot of violets. If the spring is 
mild and early you can get them from 
the cold-frame two or three weeks be- 
fore selling time, but if the season is 
backward lift from the beds the plants 
that show the most buds and only lift 
them a week or two before you want 
them, I may have missed some plants 
that many readers grow in their lo- 
cality, but remember that if I have 
failed to notice them here I have un- 
der their alphabetical order given 
them due notice if in my opinion they 
are worth growing especially as an 
Easter plant. 

It is always well to be supplied with 
a stock of moderate sized palms, pan- 
danus, ficus, dracaenas, ferns and 
ferneries, but these plants are of value 
the year round and do not need any 
special mention here. 

Don't think you can bring in a lot 
of lilies or azaleas in the fall and by 



80 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 




Easter Plants. 



giving them a certain temperature 
have them in good order for Easter. 
Plants in the same batch treated just 
the same will ba a month later or 
earlier than others. They must be 
nioved as their condition requires. I 
think one winter some years ago that 
I moved my Harrisii at least six 
times, every plant, and many of them 
a dozen times, but it paid, for out of 
1,500 plants I don't believe there were 
ten that did not open precisely a few 
days before Easter. It can be done, 
but not without thought, earnest 
thought, and active work. 

EPACRIS. 

These beautiful heath-like plants 
are not much seen in our green- 
houses, although much grown as a 
winter and spring fiowering plant in 
the gardens of Europe. The same 
general treatment as that given the 
ericas will suit them. Good peat (not 
fern root) if it can be procured is 
what they like. In its absence halt 
turfy loam and half leaf-mould will 
do. For propagation refer to Erica. 

Most of the species are from Aus- 
tralia and New Zealand, but the hy- 
brids from these species are the most 
valuable. The colors are mostly 
white, pink and red of many shades. 

Plants that have iiowered should 
have the last year's growth cut down 
to within a few inches of the older 
wood, and till the young growth gets 
a good start the plants should be kept 
syringed and away from draughts. 
They make a growth of several stems 
on^ to two feet long, which give you 
the flowers the following winter. 
When the growth is matured the 
plants can be plunged outside for a 



month or two, but are best in partial 
shade. 

Till flowering time a temperature 
of 40 to 45 degrees at night will do 
very well. Like the heaths they dis- 
like extremes of moisture, but if prop- 
erly drained will take plenty of water, 
and must at no time be allowed to get 
very dry. 

Although not often seen the epacris 
is a beautiful and aristocratic green- 
house plant and whoever can grow 
heaths should grow epacris. They are 
seldom troubled with any of our 
greenhouse pests of any kind. 



ERICA. 

This is a large genus of hard-wooded 
evergreen shrubs, often called Cape 
Heaths because they are largely from 
the Cape of Good Hope. Few green- 
house plants are finer as specimens 
than a hard-wooded heath. A plant of 
E. Cavendishianum, covered with its 
large, waxy, yellow flowers, the plant 
tied out most neatly, I can remember 
to this day, although many years since 
I had the honor to paint the hand- 
made wooden labels for naming some 
of the plants in the heath house. 

Heaths have small leaves and are 
slow growers. The flowers are some- 
times terminal and sometimes axil- 
lary. The hard-wood section is sel- 
dom seen except in a private co'lec- 
tion. They want most skillful water- 
ing the year round, good drainage and 
nothing like a sodden soil, but must 
never be very dry. They do not like 
fire heat, and a greenhouse where the 
night temperature is not over 40 de- 
grees will do very well. 

After they have made their growth 
in the spring they would be best out of 
doors, but shaded with lattice work 
from the strongest sun. A good peat 
and loam compost suits them best, 
and they should be potted firmly. But 
in the absence of peat a good fibrous 
loam with a third of leaf mould and 
some sand will do very well. The 
hard-wooded, slow-growing hraths are 
never likely to become of importance 
with the commercial florist. They are 
troubled with none of our greenhouse 
pests. 

The soft-wooded, quicker growing 
section is now largely grown as a mar- 
ket plant for our eastern cities, and 
large quantit'es are raised on Long 
Island, where the fine loam found in 
many parts of the island suits it finely. 
It is generally believed that the order 
Ericacea, which includes the azaleas, 



J 


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"'V 





Erica and Epacris, in fancy basket and silver jardioieres. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



8} 




Erica, in celluloid basket dressed with red ribbon. 



rhododendrons and kalmias. is much 
averse to lime In either the soil or 
water, and this should be remembered. 

They are propagated by cuttings 
from the tips of the young growths in 
•spring. They do not want bottom 
heat, but should be put in well-drained 
fiats or pans with a layer of light loam 
and leaf-mould, and on the surface an 
inch of clean sand. They should be 
kept rather close, away from draughts 
or too much ventilation. Give them a 
good soaking when first put in. If the 
cuttings are 1 or 1% inches long of the 
young, tender growth stripped of the 
bottom leaves they will root in seven 
or eight weeks. As they show signs of 
growth give them more air. Don't pot 
oif till they are well rooted, and keep 
them only just moist till they are 
rooted. 

The young plants will do very well 
in a cold-frame during the fall months 
and in a cool, dry house during win- 
ter. In May they can he planted out in 
the open ground, where they will make 



a good growth, and must be lifted in 
September or October. When first lift- 
ed and potted be careful not to let 
them wilt. Careful lifting, to get all 
their roots and fibres, is the essential 
object. They will do finely in a tem- 
perature of 40 degrees, but will do 
with more heat as their flowering time 
approaches. 

Two-year-old plants that are unsold 
should be cut down to within a few 
inches of the pot after flowering and 
again planted out. The young plants 
will need stopping when they first be- 
gin to root, and perhaps again when 
planted out, but not after that. 

Some of the best ericas for fiorists 
are E. caffra (small fiower, but very 
free), E. gracilis, E. hybrida, E. hyem- 
alis (a beautiful pink that flowers in 
early spring; one of the best), E. mel- 
anthera (flowers in winter), E. perso- 
luta (May), E. ventricosa, E. Wil- 
moreana (spring; a grand hybrid). All 
of these are fine commercial kinds. 



ERIOSTEMON. 

This beautiful plant belongs to that, 
class of Australian shrubs that for 
years were called New Holland plants, 
of which the pimelia is another well- 
known member, and there are many 
more. With us they are seldom seen 
in commercial places, but they are 
fine, interesting plants and are not dif- 
ficult to gi'ow. In Europe the long 
sprays of eriostemon are much valued 
for cut flowers, but with us that would 
not pay. 

The leaves are small, and the flow- 
ers, which are mostly white and pink, 
are borne in gi"eat profusion. All the 
species flower in March, April, May or 
June. As small plants they are not 
atttractive, but when of a good size, 
and slightly trained to stakes, they are 
fine ornamental plantsij_ Like most 
hard-wooded shrubs, they root freely 
from the young growths in spring. 

Though coming from Australia these' 
shrubs want by no means a tropical 
temperature. They are much the best 
plunged out of doors in summer, and 
in the winter 40 to 45 degrees will suit 
them. As with the acacia, metrosid- 
pros, pimelia and all that class, a 
good turfy loam with some rotten 
manure or leaf-mould will gi'ow them. 
As they will remain several years in 
the same pot they sihiould be well 
drained. 

There are many species, and Nicho"- 
son selects the following as being the 
most desirable: E. buxifolius, pink. 
April to June; E. intermedins, white 
and pink, April; E. neriifolius, rose, 
April; E. salicifolius. pink, June; E. 
scaber, white tinged pink, April and 
May. 

EUCHARIS. 

Hot-house evergreen bulbs bearing 
beautiful, fragrant fiowers, which 
either cut as stalks bearing four or 
five flowers or as single flowers, ai-e 
invaluable to the fiorist. Their white, 
star-shaped, elegant flowers are ad- 
mired by all, but are not seen in quan- 
tity, as they should be. In Europe 
they figure mo.^t prominently in all the 
cut flower markets, but in this country 
I have not heard of their being grown 
.systematically in large quantities any- 




H. D. DARLINGTON, 

FLUSHllsa.N. Y. 
The largest grower of 

ERICAS In America. 

Varieties— Gracilis, Melauthera, Persoluta, 
Wilmoreana, Mediterranea, Beserminans, 
etc. In Bud or Flower. Prices reason- 
able. Satisfaction g^uaranteed. 

3, 4, 5, «, 7, 8 and 10-iach pots. 

We also grow an abundance of hard-wooded 
stock, including EpacriSt Boronias, Dios- 
mas and Acacias. 

Cg^ Write us for particulars. _ 



82 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



where, and I believe there is a great 
opportunity for their cultivation, for 
as long as designs of flowers are used 
(and they will always be to some ex- 
tent) there is no flower more beautiful 
for the purpose than the eucharis. 
There is scarcely a plant grown of 



needed at all times; 60 to 65 degrees is 
the lowest they should be at any time. 
Disturbing of the bulbs and roots must 
be avoided or you will not get flowers. 
If established in a pot, from 8 to 12- 
inch, or on a bench in 6 inches of 
good soil, feed them when maning 




which you hear so often the same re- 
mark made, and it is this: "Yes, a 
grand plant. I wish I knew how to 
make it flower." Or, "I don't have any 
luck with It. It grows, but don't 
flower." 

There are several species, all want- 
ing the same treatment. E. grandi- 
flora. so generally called amazonica. is 
the fine species we all know, bearing 
an umbel of four to six flowers four 
to five inches across on stout, erect 
stems eighteen inches to two feet high. 
E. Sanderiana is somewhat smaller 
and the throat or tube of the flower is 
yellow. E. Candida is also pure white, 
bearing seven to ten flowers on one 
stalk, but not as large a flower as 
amazonica. I would advise the begin- 
ner to try the cultivation of the latter, 
as it is the handsomest of all. 

Good authorities say the euCharis 
should have an abundance of water at 
all times. South American travelers 
and collectors have also told me that 
they have wa'ked over arid plains in 
the dry season with scarcely a sign of 
vegetation and returned in six months 
over the sams ground and found it 
covered with the leaves and flowers of 
eucharis, a gorgeous sight. This does 
not agree, and we have seen the bulbs 
dried off considerably, and when pot- 
ted up send up flower stalks. But 
drying off as you would a hyacinth or 
tulip is certainly not advisable or any- 
thing approaching it. 

The bulbs multiply readily by send- 
ing out offshoots, and when once you 
have a few health,v plants your stock 
is easily increased. As the p'.ant is 
from New Granada, a warm house is 



cow manure. As the soil is to remain 
undisturbed for several years, add a 
tenth of broken up charcoal to the 
compost; it will help to keep the soil 
porous. If you receive the bulbs dor- 
mant, plant tnree in an 8-inch pot or 
five in a 10-inch, the top of bulb two 
inches below the surface. If on a 
bench, plant six inches apart in tne 
row and the rows eight inches apart. 

The principal object to observe is 
this: Supposing an established plant 
has been growing freely for two 
months and making a fine lot of 
leaves. If you continue giving it water 
free'y it will continue to make its 
handsome leaves and no flowers, but 
if you shorten up the supply of water 
and keep the plants rather dry (not by 
any means dry enough to show any 
effects on the leaf), then flower lead? 
will be formed in the bulb instead of 
leaves, and after a rest of two months 
apply again an abundance of water 
and up will come the flower stalks. 
After flowering give them only a very 
short rest and top dress and start 
again for another two or three 
months' growth. Remember that in 
cultivation, whatever their native con- 
ditions may be, a rest is only a lessen- 
ing of the water, not a drying off, and 
their foliage should not suffer at any 
time. 

We have all heard English garden- 
ers say that they could produce three 




A Florist's Display at Easter. 



their growtn of leaves, but don't dis- 
turb the roots for four or five years. 
At most times of the year they un- 
doubtedly want lots of water, so drain- 
age in the pot. and opportunity on the 
bench for water to pass freely away, is 
of great importance. 

The soil should be a good rough 
loam with one-fifth of well decayed 



crops of flowers in twelve months. 
Possibly so. Two crops will do very 
well. I will just add that two years 
ago I saw exhibited at Toronto's great 
fair in September a plant of B. ama- 
zonica in an S-inch pot that had nine 
flower stalks bearing a total of thirty- 
three flowers and buds, so it can be 
done. 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



83 




Easter Basket of Lilies, Azaleas, Hyacinths and Ferns. 



Mealy bug often bothers the leaves. 
As the plants want and thrive with 
any amount of syringing, there is little 
excuse for that. Here is a plant that, 
when growing, should never be wa- 
tered with our hydrant water, which is 
too often near ice water. The water in 
winter should be 60 degrees always. 
This, I believe, is a valuable point in 
their culture. 

EUPATORIUM. 

A large genus of herbaceous or 
shrubby plants. A few of them are 
native, hardy plants, but not of any 
value to the flori.st. although some 
years ago. in the absence of better 
flowers some of the species were large- 
ly grown to supply white material for 
designs, etc. 

The species riparium is the most 
valuable for the florist, but the quality 
and value of its flowers are not sufli- 
cient to pay for the trouble and the 
space under glass. 

After flowering in March, cut back 
the stems and from the young growths 
make cuttings, which root most eas- 
ily. After frost is gone plant out 18 
inches apart. Pinch the shoots as they 
grow during summer. They grow free- 
ly in any soil. In early October, or be- 



fore frost appears, lift with a ball of 
earth and plant on the bench in six 
inches of soil. 

As before stated, the panicles of pure 
white flowers would be useful if we 
did not have other flowers of more 
beauty. It has not the beauty or fin- 
ish of the bouvardia, and occupies the 
benches a long time. 



EUPHORBIA. 

In almost every private collection of 
greenhouse plants of years ago you 
would be sure to see a plant of E. 
splendens and E. fulgens, generally 
known as B. Jaquinlaeflora. The poin- 
settia also belongs to the euphorbias, 
but it is so generally known as poin- 
settia that under that name I have de- 
scribed it. 

The peculiarity of the euphorbias, at 
least those we grow, is that the flower 
proper is very inconspicuous, but the 
bracts, scarcely noticeable in many 
flowers, are in the euphorbias highly 
developed both in size and co'or, and 
by a casual observer the bracts are 
mistaken for petals. 

E. splendens can be dismissed by 
saying that it is of no value to the 
commercial man. It is easily grown, 
rather slow of growth, should be 
stood out of doors in the hottest 
months, and needs a warm tempera- 
ture in winter. The stems are covered 
with sharp thorns. The plant needs 
training on stakes or a trellis. When 
in flower its bright red clustered bracts 
make the plant very showy. But leave 
it to the private estab.ishment. 

E. fulgens is a beautiful plant and 
twenty years ago was one of our 
standard winter flowering plants, 
thought then to be indispensable. 
When baskets were made of a variety 
of flowers, it was a favorite with us 
for an edging, and It is a rich looking, 
graceful flower wherever you use it. 
They make annually long growths, and 
the flowers, which are orange scarlet, 
are placed close to the stem, forming 
long, handsome wreath-like flowers. 
Plants that have flowered during win- 
ter can be cut up into cuttings. Any- 
thing but the old, hard wood will root. 
If cut back in April, young shoots will 
start, which, of course, root the quick- 
est. April and May are good months 
to put in the cuttings, and keep them 
wet and shaded. Be careful when pot- 
ting off to not let them wilt from sun 
or dryness. 

Grow on in a warm, light house, and 




Bench of Eucharis Grandiflora. 



84 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



in July plant them on the bench in 
four or five inches of good, rich soil, 
six to eight inches apart. In a warm, 
unshaded hou.se they will make a good 
growth during summer, and should be 
stopped two or three times to produce 
more shoots. They should not have a 
less temperature than 60 degrees at 
night at any time. If the sprays are 
cut at Christinas they will break and 
give another growth and flowers in 
March and April. 

Like the poinsettia, they do not like 
their roots disturbed. If grown in pots 
they can be plunged outside in sum- 
mer, but never allowed to get too 
much of a soaking of water. No in- 
sects trouble them. Unlike the poin- 
settia, the plants that are two and 
three years old are the most valuable. 
After the flower is cut they can be 
lifted and stored away in dry soil un- 
der a bench and started growing again 



Japan, Persia and Syria, the Polyne- 
sian Islands, Cape of Good Hope, Na- 
tal, Abyssinia, Mascerene Islands, Ne- 
pal, Simla, Assam, and 6.000 feet up 
on the Himalaya mountains, in Thi- 
bet and Afghanistan; in the United 
States it grows in North Carolina and 
westward to Arizona, and in the Ama- 
zon valley and in the Cape de Verde 
Islands, as well as the Azore.s, Ma- 
deira, Teneritfe — in tact, throughout 
the world, except Australia and New 
Zealand. Many others have almost as 
wide a distribution. 

Those people who may wonder and 
conjecture at the closely allied species 
of animal life existing in countries far 
removed from one another, and be- 
tween which till a very recent date 
communication was impossible, need 
not wonder at finding the same species 
of ferns in many parts, because it 
would be quite possible for the spore.? 





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Prize-winning Group of Ferns. 



in May or June. Any good loam with 
a fourth of manure will grow them, 
but it should be of that texture that 
water will pass freely through. The 
essentials are light, heat, plenty of 
water when growing, and when in leaf 
no disturbance of the roots. 

FERNS. 

This large and ancient order of 
plants is known botanically as Filices. 
They are found throughout the globe 
in every land, and what is remarkable 
is that not only is a single genus 
widely spread in many parts of the 
world, but a single species is found on 
every continent and island of the sea. 
One instance will suffice. The well 
known Adiantum Capillus- Veneris, the 
British Maiden Hair fern, is found in 
the warm parts of England and Ire- 
land, and so it is a native of Central 
and Southern Europe. In China and 



to travel hundreds, perhaps thousands, 
of miles by currents of air. Ferns 
have no flowers, and that is their great 
distinguishing mark from all other 
plants that are perennial, evergreen, or 
arborescent. The order includes the 
lowly, creeping selaginella to the ma- 
jestic giant, the Dicksonia and also- 
phila of the Australian forest. Ferns 
are first of all the most graceful of 
plants. A few may be called more 
curious than beautiful, such as the 
platycerium (.stag's horn fern), but all 
are handsome and interesting, and 
many so graceful that both as orna- 
mental plants and cut fronds they are 
now indispensable, and hundreds of 
thousands of feet of glass are devoted 
to their culture alone. This is a branch 
of our business which cannot change 
except to increase. The graceful ferns 
we must have, whatever flowers we 
use. The native ferns of our latitude 



are mostly all deciduous, but they 
make handsome plants for the rock 
work or against walls or fences. 

The collection and storing for win- 
ter use of the fronds of a few species 
of our native ferns is now quite an 
industry, and many millions of fronds 
are preserved for our winter demands. 

In Europe the hardy fernery is us- 
ually a part of every well regulated 
garden, and a most interesting place it 
is for those who have a cultivated 
taste for these beautiful plants. It is 
not hazardous to say that it is supe- 
rior minds that have a taste or make 
a hobby of ferns or any other class of 
plants. Retiring people, and perhaps 
considered cranks they may be, per- 
haps poor hands at swapping horses or 
even making money, careless in fash- 
ion and not up in golf and poor in 
politics, yet superior minds far above 
the common herd. Not those who keep 
an expensive gardener and pride them- 
selves on having the finest garden to 
please their friends or surpass their 
neighbor, but the man or woman who 
knows their pets, their wants, and 
when they are flourishing and happy, 
there is where you will find the intel- 
ligent, honest ;ind contented individ- 
ual. 

A hardy fernery in our latitude 
would have to be conflned largely to 
our northern species: still, for six or 
seven months it would be highly in- 
teresting. They are best shaded by 
lofty trees and sunk some few feet 
below the surface, and cut out with 
winding paths, with rocks and mounds 
for the ferns. The cool as well as the 
tropical ferrery is usually found in all 
fine gardens of Great Britain, 'mere 
may be some here, but as yet they 
are not common, although there is 
nothing to prevent their perfect suc- 
cess. They are usually sunk a few 
feet below the surface of the surround- 
ing ground, simply to insure a more 
uniform temperature. With a nropev 
selection and planting these ferneries 
are most beautiful and interesting. 
When planted cut where the roots en- 
joy a uniform degree of moisture, 
many species tiisplay a beauty that it 
is impossible lo produce in a pot. 

All students of ferns or those inter- 
ested in their culture, whether for 
pleasure or profit, should most as- 
suredly avail themselves of that grand 
work, "The Book of Choice Ferns," 
published by tlje same firm as Nichol- 
son's Dictionary of Gardening, J. Ar- 
not Penman. New York, agent. It is 
in seven handsome volumes, most 
comprehensive, and in paper, type and 
illustrations magnificent. To it I must 
often refer, for no better authority ex- 
ists. The author makes a classifica- 
tion of ferns for "decorative purposes" 
which is a guide to those who are 
seeking species for any particular pur- 
pose. 

He classes them as follows: I, Tree 
ferns: 2, gigantic, non-aborescent; 3. 
small growing: 4, ferns with colored 
or tinted fronds: 5, variegated and 
crested; 6, gold and silver; 7, climb- 
ing, trailing and drooping; 8, filmy or 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



85 




Adiantum Farleyense. 



transparent; 9, viviparous or bulbil 
bearing; 10, curious ferns. 

A selection of a few from each class 
of the more familiar kinds will illus- 
trate the wisdom of the classification. 

No. J. Tree Ferns. 

Alsophila australis, Cyathea deal- 
bata, Dicksonia antarctica, Lomaria 
Gibba. Of these, Dicksonia antarctica 
is the best known and easiest to man- 
age. Cyathea dealbata is a magnifi- 
cent tree fern, large spreading head, 
and under side of the fronds silvery. 
Lomaria is seldom seen of any great 
size, and alsophila, although a grace- 
ful, quick growing fern, is very soft 
and entirely unfit for commercial use, 
as it suffers much in a dry heat and 
from neglect in watering. They can 
all be grown in large pots or tubs, or 
planted out, where the dicksonia and 
alsophila attain a great size. Any of 
these will thrive in winter, when the 
temperature dues not go below 50 de- 
grees, and a few nights lower will do 
no harm. None of the tree ferns could 
be called commercial plants, except 
for large and costly decorations, where 
they would be grand objects. 

No. 2. Gigantic Non-Arborescent Ferns. 

This includas many of the ferns that 
are most useful to the commercial flor- 
ist. Though many ferns of this class 
are classed as tropical, there are only 
a few that will not thrive in a mini- 
mum temperature of 55 degrees. 



A few of the most familiar are: 
Acrostichum aureum, Adiantum trape- 
ziforme, Asplenium caudatum, Blech- 
num brasiliense, Davallia divaricata, 
Nephrodium macrophyllum. Nephro- 
lepis daval!ioides,Nephrolepis exaltata, 
Polypodium aureum, Pteris tremula. 
Woodwardia orientalis, and hundreds 
of others, both genera and species. In 
that class are our large decorative 
plants of pteris, nephrolepis and poly- 
podium. 

No. 3. Small Growing Ferns. 

As the larger growing ferns are 
mostly from the tropics, so the dwarf- 
er, more compact growing ones are na- 
tives of colder or more temperate 
zones. There are not many commer- 
cial ferns taken from this class and, 
except to the student of ferns, they are 
less familiar. A few examples are 
several forms of Adiantum cuneatum, 
Asplenium formosum, Asplenium fla- 
bellifolium, Cheilanthes fragrans, sev- 
eral davallias and many other genera. 
Some of the tropical species of these 
smaller ferns make excellent material 
for our fern pans. A list of the most 
desirable for this purpose will be given 
later on. 

No. 4. Ferns with Colored or Tinted 
Fronds. 

As is obvious from the above de- 
scription, these form one of the most 
ornamental class, and in classifying 
no regard to size has been considered. 



All are acquainted with the exquisite 
tints of Adiantum Farleyense, the blu- 
ish tint of Polypodium aureum, the 
variegated Nephrodium (Lastrea) 
opaca, and the beautifully colored 
fronds of Pteris tricolor. Several of 
the selaginellas have a most beautiful 
bronze and metallic hue, and S. rubella 
has a golden form that is much valued. 
Many genera have species in this class, 
among them the adiantum, blechnum, 
davallia, doodia, nephrodium, pellaea, 
polypodium, pteris and selaginella. 

No. 5. Variegated and Crested Ferns. 

Here the author of the "Book of 
Ferns" remarks that "If we consider 
the many crested, variegated, congest- 
ed, truncate, depauperated, revolute, 
cornute, marginate and other forms 
found in many genera, we feel bound 
to acknowledge that there is little, if 
any, doubt that ferns are as much ad- 
dicted to variation as any other mem- 
bers of the vegetable kingdom." We 
readily believe this, for in this city 
there lived an old Englishman, a shoe- 
maker, we believe, who, when emigrat- 
ing, had brought with him from the 
Cumberland hills his beloved ferns, 
and had in cultivation alone fifty dif- 
ferent forms or varieties of the very 
common British fern, Scolopendrium 
vulgare, the hart's tongue fern of 
every English roadside. Several of 
these forms the old gentleman claimed 
to have discovered and named, and we 
believed him. He found the public 
were not craving for distinct and odd 
forms of his scolopendriums, and be- 
ing withal too honest for this country,' 
returned to his native land. 

Just here an innocent little story 
occurs to me in connection with these 
formidable names for so innocent a 
plant. A gentleman with a taste for 
hardy ferns was annoyed with tramps 
and beggars intruding on his grounds, 
so he set up a sign which read, "Beg- 
gars Beware! Polypodiums and Scolo- 
pendriums Set Here!" It was the sim- 
ple truth and had the desired effect. 

The author above quoted goes on to 
say: "The creation of new species, 
especially amongst ferns, is mostly the 
result of a slow process of evolution, 
by which nature produces new types 
inheriting more or less of the parental 
characters. To these same variations 
or freaks of nature we are indebted 
for the majority of our decorative 
trees and shrubs, as also for a goodly 
number of flowering and foliage plants 
of an herbaceous nature." Just so; 
that is plain, truthful language, and 
had the author been writing on zoo- 
logy he would most likely have said 
the same about the variations in the 
species of animals, and back of species 
have not genera been evolved in the 
same way, but not with animals as 
freaks of nature or ornament to the 
individual, as by their development in 
some direction that best suited them 
to their environment, and which comes 
back exactly to that great truth, "the 
survival of the fittest." 

The variegated ferns exist in a num- 



86 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



her of genera. Perhaps the most fa- 
miliar to us is Pteris argyrea, a fine 
free growing fern. The variegated 
form of Adiantum cuneatum is onl.v 
interesting to the specialist. Variega- 
tion is found among adiantums, aspi- 
diums, aspleniums. nephrodiums, poly- 
podiums, pteris, scolopendriums and 
others. 

Crested Ferns. 

While variegation is found mostly 
among ferns belonging to the tropics, 
cristation, as this form is known, is 
largely confined to the European or 
cooler species. Cristation consists in 
the subdivision of the extremities of 
the frond, forming a tassel, sometimes 



which is covered with a thick coating 
of powder, giving the plant a marvel- 
lously rich appearance. 

In cheilanthes the silvery appear- 
ance is produced by scales or hairs 
evenly and thickly distributed over 
the under surface of the fronds, and 
in the noble Cyathea dealbata the un- 
der side of the fronds have the ap- 
pearance of being painted. Of all this 
Class, the gymnogrammes are the best 
known and most useful, and if I could 
only grow two of them it would be 
G. chrysophylla, a perfect cloth of 
gold, and G. c. peruviana, with grand 
silvery fronds. Other handsome ferns 
of this clags will be found among the 




Adiantum Decorum. 



grotesque and sometimes very orna- 
mental. And sometimes the tips or 
outline of the whole frond are divided 
and multiplied. It has been noticed 
that when these forms or monstrosi- 
ties occur they reproduce themselves 
by spores vi'ith little variation. The 
most familiar forms we know are the 
crested pteris, cretica and serrulata; 
Adiantum cuneatum has several forms, 
and the grand Nephrolepis daval- 
lioides furcans. Among other genera 
that give us crested forms are aspi- 
dium, asplenium, davallia, gymno- 
gramme, polypodium, woodwardia, etc. 

No. 6. Gold and Silver Ferns. 

Although occurring in fewer genera, 
the gold and silver ferns embrace 
some of the most beautiful plants, and 
are easy of culture. They are all of 
exotic origin, but will thrive very well 
in a winter night temperature of 55 
degrees. The very attractive golden 
and silvery gymnogrammes owe their 
heauty to the under side of the frond. 



cheilanthes, gleichenia and notho- 
chlaena. 

No. 7. Climbing, Trailing and Drooping 
Ferns. 

In this large class will be found 
'many of our most useful decorative 
ferns. We use them for cutting, in 
veranda boxes, as window plants, and 
for the hanging baskets. Many of 
these have been mentioned in other 
classes, because their use is varied. 
Some years ago at Kew Garden we 
remember seeing baskets of adiantum 
and davallia three feet in diameter. 
They were covered on all sides, a per- 
fect ball, and we have all seen mag- 
nificent baskets of Nephrolepis exal- 
tata and N. e. Bostoniensis. There are 
at present several hanging baskets of 
the latter as well as of old N. tube- 
rosum at our botanic garden that are 
at least eight feet in diameter; they 
are grand objects for large conserva- 
tories. 



The truly climbing species, which 
climbs as perfectly as smilax, is Lygo- 
dium scandens (Japonicum). This was 
largely grown about twenty years ago 
as a decorative plant, and was used 
as we now use Asparagus plumosus. 
It is now little heard of; possibly the 
latter beautiful and useful plant has 
displaced it in public favor. There 
are several species of lygodium and 
an interesting item appears in the 
"Book of Ferns," which says that our 
native Lygodium palmatum, which 
grows from Massachusetts southward, 
was likely to become extinct in the 
state of Connecticut, and was pro- 
tected by a law passed by the state 
legislature forbidding its being gath- 
ered, under a penalty of $11)0. It 
would be interesting to know whether 
that was a law made to be kept, or, 
like most of our laws, made to be 
broken. 

The trailing ferns are of the great- 
est use to the amateur who has a 
fernery as well as to the commercial 
man for baskets, etc. They cover 
walls, trunks of large ferns and rocks. 

The davallias are bsst known and 
are grand for .-lis purpose, spreading 
out into large masses. Their rhizomes 
(or creeping stems) creep on the sur- 
face and are ornamental as well as 
the fronds. Many of the beautiful spe- 
cies are from warm countries, but will 
thrive wherever 50 degrees is kept in 
winter. Little soil but thorough drain- 
age is the great requisite. Their sur- 
face rhizomes when growing should al- 
ways be kept moist, and when parti- 
ally resting in water never allowed to 
get dry. 

Some of the finest of this beautiful 
genus are: D. eanariensis, D. bullata, 
D. Tyermanni, D. dissecta, D. immer- 
sa, D. Mariesii, D. Novae-Zelandiae, 
D. pentaphylla. The last six species 
are especially adapted for hanging 
baskets. Their curious and hairy 
rhizomes, resembling tlie paw of some 
small animal, gives rise to their popu- 
lar name of hare's foot, squirrel's foot, 
etc., although Polypodium aureum is 
often called the hare's foot. 

The nephrolepis need more soil for 
their roots and are not so truly trail- 
ers as the davallias. They are so well 
known little need be said here. They 
multiply fast, and if given surface 
room soon form large masses. Their 
stolons, or what we would call in a 
strawberry a runner, spreauing out in 
all directions, sometimes above and 
sometimes below tlie surface, but from 
them there spring up a few fronds, 
which are most easily taken off to 
form another plant, or left to add to 
the size of tue parent stock. 

The gleichenia is another beautiful 
genus that spreads by rhizomes, and 
for the private fernery is among ..je 
handsomest but not so easily managed 
as the devallia. Gleichenia Boryi, G. 
circinati, G. dicarpa, G. polypoides, G. 
rupestris. and varieties of these are 
mentioned as fine trailing ferns, as are 
many of the polypodiums, and of easy 
management. P. aureum, P. Bil- 



The FLORISTS' manual. 



87 




Polypodium Subaoriculatum in a hanging basket. 



lartlieri, P. Paradiseae. P. repens, P. 
sororium and P. veri'ucosum are high- 
ly commended for any place where 
ferns of a creeping or trailing habit 
are desired. 

The drooping ferns are those having 
drooping or pendulous fronds and are 
more valuable for hanging baskets 
than any other class, and none are 
better known or better for the purpose 
than the splendid genus nephrolepis. 
By their stolonlferous habit young 
plants soon emerge from the outside 
of the baskets in all directions. Sev- 
eral forms or variations in the well 
known N. exaltata have appeared late- 
ly and the variety known as Bostoni- 
ensis is a wonderful acquisition. It 
is unequalled as a basket plant, makes 
a grand specimen in a pot or tub, with- 
stands the dry heat of a sitting room 
remarkably well, equal to a kentia 
palm, and does fairly well in the broad 
sun if well provided with water. 

The best known and most desirable 
of the nephrolepis are N. exaltata and 
its grand variety Bostoniensis, N. 
cordifolia, known among florists gen- 
erally as tuberosa because the under- 
ground stolons bear tubers. This spe- 



cies', although from tropical America, 
lives and grows in our cool house and 
for vases and veranda boxes is the 
hardiest of all: N. davalMoidss, and its 
beautiful form, furcans. Then there 
are several species or varieties, one 
known among us as cordata compacta, 
shorter in the frond but making a very 
compact, dark green, handsome plant. 
A new variety has lately appeared, 
called Washingtoniensis, of which we 
have heard unfavorable reports. 

Several of the adiantums have a 
drooping form and for private collec- 
tions are beautiful, but not florists' 
plants. A. concinnum is a beautiful 
species, and with it are recommended 
for baskets caudatum, digitatum, lunu- 
latum, Moorei and others. 

Class 8. Filmy or Transparent Ferns. 

To embrace all the classes it is nec- 
essary not to neglect the above, al- 
though even if of interest to the flor- 
ist they cannot be any source of profit. 
Yet they are considered the gems of 
the whole family of ferns. There are 
only three genera: hymenophyllum, 
trichomanes and todea. These three 
genera have numerous representatives 



in many parts of the world. The same 
difficulty would be met with in their 
cultivation here as occurs with Odon- 
toglossum crispum among orchids: 
our hot. dry summers and the neces- 
sity of fire heat in winter. To this 
class belongs the world famous Kil- 
larney fern, which grew, and if Van- 
dals have not destroyed it, yet grows 
among the shady nooks and rocks 
about the Lakes of Killarney. What 
a pity travelers do not search for a 
section of the vertebra of some ex- 
tinct saint, of which that island has 
been so prolific, and leave the gem Tri- 
chomanes radicans in peace. 

Some forty years ago, in fact, ex- 
actly that, the writer had charge of a 
cool conservatory. In that house on 
the south side of the north path, about 
half way between the east and ths 
west paths, and partly shaded by the 
fine heads of a Dicksonia antarctica 
and a Cyathea dealbata, one on either 
side, was a small case, perhaps about 
five feet long and two feet wide, with 
a hinged glass roof; and in this case 
some eighteen inches below the glass 
were several clumps of the Killarney 
fern (Trichomanes radicans) and the 
other British filmy f?rn, Hymenophyl- 
lum Tunbridgense. I have been pai- 
ticular in locating this little green- 
house within a greenhouse because I 
can see the Killarnsy fern now, al- 
though I have not seen one since it was 
my duty to lift up the lid and let in 
a little air if there was too great a 
degree of moisture on ths delicate 
fronds. There was an older and wiser 
mind than mine who inspected these 
plants daily, and when I now read to- 
day of the most approved methods of 
culture of these wonderful ferns I can 
see that the house of forty years ago 
and their treatment was about right. 

They are now seldom grown, but an 
ardent lover of ferns would surely like 
to have them under his care. Briefly 
then, the principal fact to realize is 
that wherever found their surround- 
ings are charged with moisture: Light 
they have, but never the direct rays 
of the sun. Most of them have sur- 
face rhizomes and they need little 
soil, which can be broken up peat, 
chopped sphagnum and pounded up 
bricks or broken crocks. Moisture at 
the roots they want at all times and 
an atmosphere charged with moisture, 
but no syringing overhead. A dry, 
cutting draught, even in the green- 
house, would soon destroy them. The 
British species will withstand a tem- 
perature far below freezing, and the 
species from India and the West In- 
dies, as well as those from China, Tas- 
mania and New Zealand, are found at 
high elevations. The hymenophyllums 
'■forming a green matting over con- 
stantly wet rocks." 

A low temperature, shade and moist- 
ure are the essentials to success with 
these beautiful ferns, which the com- 
mercial florist will let severely alone. 

Class 9. 'Viviparous and Proliferous Ferns. 

This peculiar class includes many 
species of many different genera. 



88 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 




Nephrolepis Exaltata Bostoniensis. 



Willie in some genera o£ this class 
only two or three species are repre- 
sented, in others they predominate. 
The large genus asplenium is of the 
latter. This class is known from 
their curious way of multiplying or 
reproducing their species. 

They are again divided into classes 
from the manner or disposition of the 
bulbils. Two of the best known ferns 
that are viviparous are Asplenium 
bulbiferum and Aspidium angulare 
proliferum. We constantly see these 
in every place where ferns are grown. 
These have the bulbils or little plants 
scattered over the upper surface of the 
leaf, and are most readily increased by 
detaching the young plant and potting 
or laying the whole leaf on the surface 
of some pan of suitable soil where the 
young plants soon root and can be aft- 
erwards potted. 

Another class has this proliferous 
character extending only to the stalk 
of the frond. Another class has but 
a single bulbil growing at the tip or 
end of the frond. And there is yet an- 
other which is classed as proliferous, 
but in a very different way from the 
other three. This includes the inval- 
uable genus nephrolepis, and its pro- 
liferous character enables us to propa- 
gate it with such ease, and is also the 
cause of its being such a splendid bas- 
ket fern. The nephrolepis have long, 
wiry stolons or underground rhizomes 
provided with latent buds which are 
constantly sending up fronds and 
forming young plants. As we all 
know, to sever this wiry rhizome or 
stolon from the parent plant is not 
felt by either, so our stock of the Bos- 
ton fern and other nephrolepis is most 
rapidly increased by planting out me- 
dium sized plants in four or five inch- 
es of soil during summer. Besides 
those mentioned there are a number of 



viviparous or proliferous ferns, many 
of them highly interesting and hand- 
some, but not desirable to the plant 
grower. These are adiantum, gymno- 
gramme, marattia, nephrodium, platy- 
cerium, polypodium, pteris, scolopen- 
drium, woodwardia and others; all 
have several representatives in this 
curious hen and chickens-like class. 



Class 10. Curious Ferns. 

This last division includes only what 
is strange, striking, peculiar, or a spe- 
cies that is very unlike the great ma- 
jority of ferns, but the author I have 
so liberally quoted does not include 
any of the crested, or what he calls 
mal-formed, varieties of originally ele- 
gant species. The species he selects for 
this class are so unlike ferns in ap- 
pearance that they are not readily 
taken for ferns. The Lygodium scan- 
dens would hardly be thought a fern, 
and Platycerium alcicorne. the well- 
known stag's horn fern, differs widely 
from our usual idea of ferns. The 
Acrostichum crinitum of the West In- 
dies must be a remarkable looking 
plant, for its shape and texture gives 
it the name of the elephant's ear. 
There are some species that, but for 
their so-called fruit, bear no resem- 
blance to the ferns or entitle them to 
rank with the order. 

As curious objects for the fernery or 
conservatory, they have their place, 
but that is not in the precincts of the 
commercial man. But think of the 
thousands of forms we have that are 
strange, grotesque, beautiful, graceful, 
some creeping on wet, cold rocks like 
a tracery of fine lace, and some of the 
family rearing their plumed heads 100 
feet high in the tropical forest, inhabi- 
tants of the earth in the dark ages of 
the dim past, contemporaries, perhaps, 
of the giant horse tails that formed 
our coal, surviving the glacial period. 




Nephrolepis Rufescens Tripinnatifidi. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



89 



All kindred because the reproduction 
of the species is the same in all. 

Propagation. 

Those that have surface rhizomes, 
such as the davallias and some of the 
adiantums (CapiUus- Veneris is one), 
are easily and quickly divided. A 
rhizome that has run out and thrown 
up a few fronds will have aho made 
some roots and can be severed from 
the parent plant and potted. Never 
over-pot ferns. It is true that some 
of the stronger growing kinds, espe- 
cially the pteris, soon get root-bound 
and then want larger pots, but the 
great majority of ferns do not need 
so much pot room, but they always 
want good drainage, so that water 
can pass freely through. 

Those that have stolons or under- 
ground rhizomes, such as the nephro- 
lepis, are most easy of all to multi- 
ply, young plants often coming up at 
the side of the pot and on the aerial 
roots, the young plants appearing at 
intervals. In June, when your bed- 
ding plants are gone, select a bench 
that will let the water through freely. 
and in five or six inches of soil plant 
out young plants from 3 or 4-inch pots. 
They will by September or October 
have made fine plants and have sent 
out such an abundance of stolons that 
at intervals, or when you lift, you 
will get a number of young plants, 
which can be potted up, or if a larger 
stock is needed, replanted. Tuere is 
no doubt a much larger plant of any 
of the nephrolepis can be obtained in a 
short time by planting out than if 
grown in a pot, and they lift with a 
mass of roots, perfectly, without los- 
ing a single frond. 

Few of the commercial sorts are 
proliferous on the leafy frond, but 
those that are lend themselves to 




Nephrolepis Davallioides Koreans. 



propagation most easily, as described 
in the remarks on that class. 

Some species that grow in tufts, 
such as Adiantum cuneatum, the com- 
mon Maiden Hair, can be divided. The 
crown should oe cut carefully and then 
the roots pulled apart. Cuneatum, or 
any particular form of it, is often in- 
creased by division, and sterile species, 
of which the most beautiful of all, A. 
Farleyense is one, can only be propa- 
gated by division. This should be 
done in early spring, when the plants 
are in most cases resting and before 




Pteris Tremola Smithae. 



the young growth is made, but can by 
care be done at any season. 

Just here it is worthy of mention 
that this beautiful fern, A. Farleyense, 
is usually thought to be a sterile form 
of A. tenerum, but there is no definite 
knowledge about it, and the millions 
of plants now existing, or that have 
existed, all came from one plant found 
growing on Farley Hills, in the Island 
of Barbadoes, the thickest populated 
island of the world, where the chil- 
dren's stomachs are distended like bal- 
loons by an unchanged diet of sugar 
cane. 

Nearly all the useful species can be 
readily raised from spores, which is 
the natural way, and has the advan- 
tage of producing possibly either an 
improved form or variation from the 
parent which by division, or by pro- 
liferous stolons, or divisions of the 
rhizomes, never happens. The raising 
of seedling ferns from spores is a 
very delicate operation and with the 
beginner not always a success. You 
will likely get several species which 
you never believed you sowed and tew 
of those that you thought were sown. 
We all know how ferns spring up in 
the pots or on the bench if left undis- 
turbed for a few months, if there aie 
any spore-bearing ferns in the house. 
.\diantum cuneatum I have seen vege- 
tate on a slimy, dirty brick wall by 
the tens of thousands and had to 
scrape them off for the sake of clean- 
liness. 

Before giving any directions for 
sowing, just a word about these 
spores. The whole order of ferns have 
no flowers, consequently no sexual or- 
gans, and from the spore to the young 
perfect fern frond like its parent is a 
profound, complicated and mysterious 
phenomenon. When the spore vege- 



90 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 




Pteris Victoriae. 



tales it forms cells, which are called 
the prothallus, and is only an increase 
of cells. On the under side of the 
prothallus ( which resembles the Liver- 
wort so often seen on the surface of 
our soil with plants making a slow or 
stagnant growth) develop the organs 
of both sexes, which have the same 
function as the more conspicuous or- 
gans in the flowering plants. To de- 
scribe the complicated and marvellous 
process of fertilization would require 
a chapter, had I time or space to quote 
it. From the prothallus finally springs 
(varying in time with the species) the 
young true frond. Any cross fertiliza- 
tion of species, as we do with flower- 
ing plants, is therefore impossible, but 
by sowing the spores of different spe- 
cies in one pan there is assurance that 
hybrids hava been produced, and this 
is getting deep into science. 

One word as to the fertility or 
fecundity of ferns. Mr. Charles T. 
Druery, who is quoted in the "Book 
of Choice Ferns," says: "We have es- 
timated the spores upon a single frond 
of our native (British) Polypodiuni 
vulgare (a frond not over a foot long 
by three inches wide), and found that 
one of the sub-divisions of the same 
size taken from a tree fern would yield 
plants sufficient to form a wood as 
large as Epping Forest. Every frond 
would bear hundreds of such sub-di- 
visions and the tree fern would prob- 
ably bear thirty or forty fronds every 
season. A little calculation, therefore. 
will show that inconceivable numbers 
have to be -tlealt with." Truly incon- 
ceivable; countless millions on every 
frond. Another illustration by the 
same author was the shaking of the 



spores of an asplenium out and col- 
lecting them, about filling a teaspoon, 
in which he estimates he had eighty 
million spores. So it one in ten thou- 
sand of the spores we sow vegetate, 
we are doing well, and the surface of 
our pan will be covered with the 
moss-like prothalli. 

The spores should be gathered, or 
rather the frond cut before the spore 



of broken crocks, should be baked to 
destroy all germs of weeds or moss or 
eggs of insects. If not baked, water 
with scalding water. Make the sur- 
face smooth and scatter the spores. 
No careless watering must be given, 
but let it flow over the surface slowly. 

If covered with glass, which it 
should be, the soil will not need much 
watering till the prothalli appear in 
the way above described. When this 
about covers the surface of the pan 
they should be divided by taking 
small patches, say 1-4 inch square, and 
placing them on the surface of other 
pans or flats. Soon the true fern leaf 
will appear, when in time the lime 
plants can be pricked out singly in 
small pots. or. what is still better, in 
flats, till they are larger and need a 
pot for themselves. 

If a few large plants of the leading 
sorts are kept in a house and allowed 
to shed their spores, they will be car- 
ried to every corner of the house, and 
if some plants (like large palms) are in 
the house that are not often shifted, 
you will be sure to have an abundance 
of young ferns. I have noticed fre- 
quently the young plants of Adiantum 
cuneatum growing on the sphagnum 
in the cattleya baskets. 

Cultivation. 

It would be impossible to give any 
special instructions for any particular 
class of ferns, and there is no need of 
it. Those that make strong roots, 
such as the pteris, want root room and 
must be well drained. Those making 
surface rhizomes, as the davallias, do 
not want much depth of soil, but need 
surface room if large specimens are 
wanted. 

It is generally conceded that in soil 
ferns are not at all particular. At- 




Cyrtomium Falcatum. 



cases have burst, and if not conve- 
nient to sow at once, put them away 
in paper bags. The soil or material 
you sow on, which can be a light, 
sandy loam, covering an inch or so 



mospheric conditions are of far more 
consequence. A good fllirous loam, 
with a third of leaf-mould, will suit 
any of them. Bone meal will help ferns 
if soil is thoroughly watersd after re- 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



91 




Gymnogfimme Decornposita . 



potting. Some growers of Adiantum 
cuneatuni add about one-sixth of well 
rotted and sifted cow manure to their 
tompost. Pot firmly but not too solid. 

As before mentioned about tempera- 
ture, few plants will thrive in a lower 
temperature than that of their native 
habitat so well as ferns. Species from 
the tropics, where in some localities 
the temperature would hardly ever be 
below 7" degrees, will do very well in 
our houses if not below 55 degrees. 
Growers of Adiantum cuneatum or A. 
decorum, who grow houses of them for 
the market, sometimes as pot plants, 
but more often for the cut fronds, will. 
I am aware, keep them higher than 
55 degrees. Cuneatum will pay best 
when grown in a high temperature, 
but should be well matured before sold 
or it will soon wilt. 

Watering ferns does not need any 
great skill. All evergreen ferns, and 
we grow only those, require plenty of 
water at all times, but less in winter, 
when afi ferns take a partial rest. We 
have had young men tell us that at 
"their establishment," where the A. 
Farleyense was well grown, they have 
seen repeatedly Jack Jones standing 
with the hose and giving the Farley- 
ense a good syringing. It must have 



been on the morning of bright summer 
days. 

Almost all terns are found as under- 
growth in forests and woods, and- are 
shaded by the trees above. Ferns want 
subdued light, but not a heavy shade. 
The ideal conditions for all the ferns 
we grow would be a house that could 
be shaded, say, by 9 a. m.. and the 
shade removed at 5 p. m., but that 
great and most desirable convenience 
the commercial man has not yet ob- 
tained. Next to that is a north house, 
where light comes in, but not wie 
direct ra.vs of the sun. As we perhaps 
have neither of the above, then shade 
by degrees till midsummer, and re- 
move gradually as winter approaches. 
Ferns will grow fast enough in a very 
."hady house, but the fronds are weak 
and straggling. Plenty of water at 
the roots, plenty of moisture in the 
house, is needed, but do little wetting 
of the fronds; they don't need it. 

One of the most important points to 
observe is to give the ferns a coo! bot- 
tom, A bench with three or four 4-inch 
pipes under it is the worst possible 
place. A solid bed covered with ashes 
will suit them far better. If growing 
adiantum on a bench, let it be a deep 
one and well drained, and no steam or 
hot water pipes near it. Let the pipes 



be on the side, where they can have no 
influence on the soil. The bottom heat 
that is so congenial to most of our 
soft wooded plants is misery to the 
ferns. 

The healthiest lot of ferns I ever 
saw under glass was in the fernery at 
the Manchester (England) Botanic 
Gardens. Cool and moist, with water 
trickling over rocks, with the dick- 
sonias in the center and their great 
stems covered with platyceriums, you 
could fancy you were transported to a 
rocky dell of New Zealand. The most 
luxuriant ferns growing naturally 
were on the banks of the small river 
or inlet to Lake Chautauqua, N, Y., 
where the osmunda grew to the wa- 
ters edge in rank profusion, shaded 
by the overhanging forest. 

Few insects trouble our commercial 
ferns. Scale is often troublesome to 
large ferns. Old fronds, if badly af- 
fected, are best cut off and destroyed, 
and washing the others with soap and 
Nikoteen is all you can do. Thrip will 
succumb to the fumes of tobacco, but 
ferns don't like tobacco smoke, and it 
is much better to vaporize with the 
Kose Leaf extract of tobacco or Niko- 
teen. Do this at least once a week; it 
will also keep down aphis, which 
sometimes infests the young fronds of 
the adiantums and will do the ferns 
i.o harm. Wood lice, which often aid 
known by that awful name of sow 
bugs, eat the tender shoots. A hol- 
lowed-out potato in which they will 
go to roost will catch thousands, or a 
mixture of paris green and powdered 
sugar placed along the edge of the 
bench will destroy them. 

The small white slugs are the worst 
enemy of ferns, and the adiantums 
seem selected as their own especial 
diet. The old remedy of placing cab- 
bage or lettuce leaves on the bench or 
pots is sure to catch many of them, 
but they should be examined early 
every morning. The slugs are said to 
be very fond of bran, and if small 
patches are put on the bench here and 
there the slugs will revel in it and can 
be caught. Large growers o» the 
Maiden Hair find that a light dusting 
of air slacked lime on the plants and 
soil about once a month is sufficient to 
dispel any visitation of the slugs. 

Ferneries. 

The filling of small ferneries for the 
table is now an important branch of 
business. We should endeavor to 
make these as .satisfactory as possible, 
for they are short lived at best. We 
get them returned in the condition of 
mud and' again as dry as a rock. It 
will not pay us all to be raising our 
young ferns, and unless you are in it 
with all facilities, leave it to the spe- 
cialist. Ferns that are small, compact 
growing, would be too slow in grow- 
ing to be profitable, so it is small 
plants of quick growing, larger kinds 
that are mostly used for this purpose. 
The spores are sown in winter or early 
spring and the plants delivered to us 
from 2-inch pots in the fall months. 

A night temperature of 60 degrees. 



92 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 




Microlepia Hirta Cristata. 



with a cool bottom and partial shade, 
is the place to grow on the young 
terns. You don't want them to grow 
fast, but to fill up and be strong and 
robust. An eastern firm who rai.se 
several hundred thousand young ferns 
for this purpose gave me the following 
list as those best suited for the pur- 
pose, the first four being most useful 
in the center: Pteris cretica magnifica, 
Pteris cretica albo-lineata, Pteris Vic- 
toriae (variegated), Pteris argyraea, 
Cyrtomium falcatum, Aspidium angu- 
lare, Blechnum occidentale, Blechnum 
braziliense, Davallia stricta, Lomaria 
ciliata, Lomaria Gibba, Lastrea opaca, 
Lastrea chrysoloba, Lastrea artistata 
variegata, Nephrodium hertypes, Ony- 
chium japonicum, Polystichum cori- 
anum, Polystichum setosum, Poly- 
stichum pubescens, Pteris biaurita ar- 
gentea, Pteris serrulata, Pteris cris- 
tata, Pteris nana compacta, Pteris 
voluta, Pteris cretica Mayii (varie- 
gated), Selaginella Emiliana (for edg- 
ing). 

Conclusion. 

With the exception of the list last 
quoted, in which the names of some 
varieties may not be correct, but by 
which they are best known, I have 
followed out the nomenclature of 
Hooker and Baker, as used in the 
■■Book of Choice Ferns," as those 
names will eventually prevail. In do- 
ing so, however, I found with my lim- 
ited knowledge of ferns that names 
have been much changed in forty 
years. What we knew as Lastrea 
felix-mas is now Nephrodium felix- 
mas, and many less familiar cases. 

In conclusion, if you are not brought 
in contact with any class of plants 
you cannot quickly memorize their 
"names, but all plants under your care 



or that you handle you should know 
correctly. To ask the name in a 
botanic garden or at your neighbor's 
and forget it the next moment is waste 
of time and an annoyance. "Let me 
see; what is that fern? I forget." The 
professor says, "That is Onychium 
japonicum." "Oh, yes, yes, yes, of 
course; and what's that?" And before 
you have got to the door you have for- 
gotten the very sound of the name. 



To be reminiscent once more. Some- 
where about the year '60 of this cen- 
tury the writer had the first serious 
attack of the "tender passion." The 
cause of the attack and outoreak was 
much his senior, and having no funds 
to buy an album or a volume of By- 
ron, he made a collection of British 
ferns, dried them in a book, and pre- 
sented them, named, and the collec- 
tion without varieties was almost 
complete with the exception, perhaps, 
of ten species. Now, I have forgotten 
what size glove that young woman 
wore, or whether her hair was in curls 
or brushed back a la the Empress Eu- 
genie, but I will never forget how to 
write Asplenium Ruta-muraria. al- 
though I have not seen Ruta-muraria 
or the old woman nigh on to forty 
years. Look at a plant and write it 
down; once written and spelt correct- 
ly, you will never forget. The writer 
has a fair memory for anecdotes, be- 
cause they can be filled in as you go 
along, but no good for names unless 
he writes them down; then they stick 
in that laboratory which is a mystery 
to all of us. 

FERTILIZERS AND MANURES. 

As we use the words in gardening 
operations, they include any sub- 
stance, animal or mineral, that will 
add quantity, weight, vigor and size 
to our crops. I shall not attempt to 
give you any learned discourse on 
chemical manures, because, first, I am 
not able, and, secondly, you can easily 
obtain a report from the many state 
agricultural and horticultural stations 
giving the analyses of the several ma- 
nures and the quantities used, as well 
as their effect on diiTerent soils and 
plants. 




Platycerium Alcicorne. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



93 




Plalycerium Grande. 



The paper read at the Clevelanil 
convention of the S. A. F.. in August, 
1896, by Prof. K. C. Ketlzie. M. A., of 
the Michigan Agricultural College, 
was very instructive. He said "Potas- 
sium, phosphorus and nitrogen are of 
the highest importance to florists for 
four reasons: First, they are abso- 
lutely indispensable to vegetable life, 
because no plant can grow in the ab- 
sence of any one of them; second, be- 
cause in available form they are found 
in smaller amounts than other food 
elements; third, because they are 
soonest exhausted by cultivation; 
fourth, because they are especially 
concerned in the early growth of 
plants up to and including the period 
of flowering." For their great value, 
not only to the farmer, but to the 
gardener, the professor called them 
"The Chemical Tripod in Floricult- 
ure." 

The fertilizer that is a favorite with 
all florists is what we call bone dust 
or flour. There is sometimes confusion 
about the names of these grades. With 
us the bone dust is ground up about 
as fine as Scotch oatmeal, but ttiere 
are too many coarse pieces in it to be 
available to the plants in one season. 
It the plants were to grow two or 
three years in the same pot or bench, 
then the coarser particles would i-ie 
all right, because the coarser particles 
would be gradually dissolving and 
giving benefit to the soil and plants; 
but if not dissolved, then you have 
thrown out a costly fertilizer and had 
no benefit. So when we want "bone" 
for roses or carnations, or to mix with 
our potting soil in early spring, to 
give our soft-wooded plant.s a jump, 
we order the bone "flour," which is 
really as fine as flour. 

Bone is the most complete manure 
we can use, because it contains both 



phosphate and nitrogen. The quan- 
tity you can use is often questioned. 
I have heard one professor say he 
"thought you could not overdo it if 
the soil was not allowed to get dry." 
We have used on carnations 200 
pounds on a bench with five inches of 




Platycerium Willinckii. 



soil, 200 feet long and 6 feet wide, 
and seen only the best results. For 
potting soil we have used a 6-inch pot 
. full to an ordinary wheelbarrow of 
soil. Perhaps much more could be 
added with safety, but we don't think 
it advisable. 

Phosphates produce flowers and ni- 
trates produce a strong leaf growth, 
giving a rich green to the foliage. 
Here it may be as well to say that all 
manures reach the roots of plants 
more completely and perfectly when 
applied in a liquid form than in the 
dry state, but not all of us have the 
facilities for so applying them. 

Last year, being short of ground 
bone, we used on carnations in the 
same quantities as bone a superphos- 
phate of a fine grade that was sold 
under the name of "potato phos- 
phate, ' simply being of a better qual- 
ity than that usually sold to farmers 
for their wheat, etc. 

Nitrate of soda (Chili saltpeter) is 
valuable tor its available nitrogen and 
we have tried it on several plants, one 
pound dissolved in fifty gallons of 
water. It produces a rich growth of 
leaf and stem, but does not induce 
flowers (in fact, the contrary), but in 
the early stages of plants, young 
roses, for instance, where growth and 
size of plant is wanted, not flower, it 
can be used to advantage. My experi- 
ence with it iti mineral form was very 
disastrous. I sowed it on a bench of 
carnations and then stirred it in be- 
fore the carnations were planted, 
about two pounds on a space 8x7 feet. 
It killed almost every carnation. A 
smaller quantity might have had a 
different effect, but don't use it except 
in solution. English farmers sow it 
broadcast on their grain crops in early 
spring, but on the surface and out of 
doors is no guide to us. In solution 
and the proportion named above (one 
pound in fifty gallons of water) it is 
a valuable stimulant to violets, pro- 
ducing a larger and deeper blue 
flower; and as we usually get plenty 
of violet flowers too often lacking in 
quality, there is where the nitrate of 
soda is very valuable. 

Prof. Kedzie places a very high 
value on wood ashes, in tact places 
them first, and to quote him, he says; 
"These contain all the mineral matter 
of plant growth, and so far as min- 
erals are concerned are an all round 
manure. Without this mineral mat- 
ter in some form plants cannot grow." 
We have many of us a good opportu- 
nity to obtain this valuable fertilizer 
very near home, but do not avail our- 
selves of it. They can be used with 
ordinary animal manure. About one 
peck to a yard or load of soil will be 
found a sate quantity. As the ashes 
of wood contain the elements that the 
mature plant contained, they must 
furnish the elements for a full and 
rapid growth. 

The way we use our chemical fer- 
tilizers is not similar to that followed 
on the farm or market garden, where 
a change of manure may be desirable 
on any one piece of gro\iud. With a 



94 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



bench of roses or carnations ii Is a 
new lot of plants and new soil every 
year, and if bone meal is a perfect 
manure there can be no harm in using 
it year after year. 

Guano was largely in use thirty 
years ago when the supply was great- 
er. It is the excrement of sea birds, 
found on the islands off the coast of 
Peru. It is difficult now to obtain and 
what would be sold to you for Pe- 
ruvian guano would be most likely an 
imitation. The pure guano was one 
of the most wonderful of manures. 
We have used a 2-inch pot of guano 
in four gallons of water and the ef- 
fect of an occasional watering on soft- 
wooded plants was marvelous. If 
procurable it would, however, be too 
expensive and not as complete a ma- 
nure as bone meal. 

Of the animal manures the one 
mostly in use by florists is that of 
the cow stable. Why, I do not know, 
as horse manure is richer in ammo- 
nia. One of the best rose growers we 
know, on being asked what manure 
he used, answered, "Any I can get." 
A few years ago my neighbor, Mr. W. 
J. Palmer, showed me two houses of 
Daybreak carnations that were for 
general vigor, stout stem and large 
flowers much superior to other houses 
of the same variety. On being asked 
to account for it, Mr. Palmer said he 
could not, except that the best lot 
had manure from his horse stable 
while the poorer ones had only cow 
manure. We believe that the cause 
was explained. 

While certain animal m;inures may 
have special fertilizing properties, for 
our crops of roses and carnations it 
would be perfectly safe, and 1 believe 
beneficial, to use them mixed. There 
is no doulit there is a difference in 
the qualities of manure by the differ- 
ence in the food of the animals. Ani- 
mal or farm-yard manure should not 
be allowed to lie in a great heap and 
violently ferment, or much of its value 
will be destroyed. 

With our roses there is a difference 
of opinion as to quantity to use. Too 
much manure in the soil for carna- 
tions produces a rank, soft growth, 
and if bone meal or superphosphate is 
used a tenth of animal manure is suf- 
ficient. With roses a sixth or seventh 
is sometimes used, and more often 
less. Sheep manure is much stronger 
and a twentieth is as strong as it 
should be used. In making up our 
compost pile in the summer time for 
use in the following winter and spring 
we have often added a fourth of horse 
or cow manure, and when chopped 
down and thoroughly mixed with soil 
it was not more than was beneficial to 
our usual run of soft-wooded plants, 
such as geraniums, coleus, cannas, etc. 

There is not any doubt that our ani- 
mal manures, besides imparting ferti- 
lizing properties to the soil, are often 
of a mechanical benefit, making the 
soil more porous and friable. 

We should remember, in discussing 
the quantities and qualities of ma- 
nures, that there is such a wide dif- 



ference, not only in the chemical prop- 
erties of soils in different localities, 
but in the condition of soils of the 
same qualities. A meadow that has 
been used as a pasture for ten or fif- 
teen years will give you a sod that 
must be rich in plant food over that 
which has been laid down but two 
years and previously was cropped year 
after year. Or again, the soil of a 
market garden that has annually re- 
ceived a heavy dressing of manure 
will grow any of our greenhouse crops, 
while a worn-out garden, however 
good naturally the texture of the soil, 
will grow nothing without the aid of 
some quick acting fertilizer. 

In concluding this chapter I would 
remind you that soot (bituminou.s 
only) is very largely used by the plant 
growers of Europe, and Nicho'.son 
says: "It has the advantage over oth- 
er manures that it can hardly be mis- 
appled." No soot is wasted in the 
cities of Great Britain; it is all so'.d 
to the farmer and gardener. It is not. 
however, a flower producer, but adds 
size and lustre to the leaf and flower. 
It is used by all cyclamen growers, 
mixed with the soil, and as a liquid. 
And by chrysanthemum growers it is 
highly valued. A peck of it is put 
into a bag and placed in fifty gallons 
of water, and the effect on the leaf and 
color of the flower is most marked. 

Animal or organic manures can^ be 
misapplied or used to excess in the 
greenhouse, but in the field seldom 
are. and it is generally a sign of a 



thrifty florist or gardener when you 
see his place adorned with manure 
piles: it is money well laid out; it is 
an investment that with ordinary 
management is sure to come back with 
great interest. Millions of acres in 
our eastern states are crying for ma- 
nure to replace the properties of the 
toil that lazy and careless tillage has 
year after year taken from it. 

FICUS. 

A large genus of trees or shrubs 
cultivated for their ornamental leaves, 
F. elastica, familiarly known as the 
rubber tree, is the species we are in- 
terested in above all others, although 
for private collections and botanical 
gardens several others are noble 
plants. F. repens ( properly F. stipu- 
lata) is a small-leaved, very useful 
climbing plant, growing and adhering 
closely to the walls of greenhouses, 
making a very pretty appearance, and 
will withstand a few degrees of frost. 

F. Parcelli has a very prettily vari- 
egated leaf. It is very unlike elastica, 
the plant being more branching and 
slow growing. The leaves are sharp 
pointed, three or four inches long and 
very irregularly blotched. It is hand- 
some when well grown; but is most 
horribly addicted to thrip and red 
spider. 

F. elastica is now a plant of the first 
importance with all commercial plant 
men. Tens of thousands are annually 
sold. The "rubber" is known to all 
as one of the very best house plants. 




Ficus Elastica. 



The FLORISTS' manual. 



95 



We have all seen it thriving in a dark 
hall, and with (air treatment there are 
tew plants that will endure unfavor- 
able conditions as well. We get. how- 
ever, lots ot complaints. "My rubber 
is losing its leaves, etc." 

I tell my customers to sponge tha 
leaves occasionally and if the water 
passes through the soil freely to water 
twice a day in summer and once every 
day in winter. 

They stand out in pots and tubs dur- 
ing summer in the broad sun and they 
want plenty of water. I have never 
seen their fine leaves burned or in- 
jured by the sun when out ot doors, 
but they easily burn under glass in 
the bright days of spring before wa 
are shaded. 

The following is not quoted for my 
readers to follow, but the most shiny 
leaves and greasiest soil I ever saw 
was on a plant brought to me two 
years ago. I think the little lady 
brought it for my inspection because 
she was proud ot it. It looked bright 
and well and its introduction to me 
was as follows: "What do you think 
of my rubber. Mr. S.? I oiled its 
leaves yesterday with olive on and 
last week a friend told me she thought 
it was troubled with worms, so I gave 
it two tablespoonfuls of castor oil and 
two worms came out." 

Perhaps to Mr. Wm. K. Harris, of 
Philadelphia, belongs the credit of 
growing the finest specimen rubbers 
in one year of any man in the world, 
producing branching plants 6 feet high 
and 4 feet through, and furnished with 
leaves to the pot. I do not pretend 
to tell you how to emulate Mr. Harris, 
but young plants that are wanted to 
branch should not be allowed to grow 
3 feet high and then cut down to the 
hard wood. They will break, but slow- 
ly. If wanted branched pinch the top 
out of the strongest young plants 
when not over 15 inches high. 

F. elastica is a tropical tree, but will 
exist in our greenhouses in winter at 
a temperature of 50 degrees or even 
lower, but when rapid growth is want- 
ed 70 degrees at night is the tempera- 
ture, and when growing those speci- 
mens spoken of above it is never less 
than that and possibly 100 in the day 
time. 

The rubbers thrive in a comparative- 
ly small pot and for our sales should 
not be overpotted. A good, open, turfy 
loam, with a fifth or sixth of manure, 
and to this compost add one quart of 
bone meal to every bushel. 

Propagation is by two methods — 
cuttings and what is generally known 
as "mossing." The latter is much the 
surest way. Sometimes cuttings root 
very well, and, again under the same 
conditions they don't. Cuttings seven 
or eight inches long, with several 
leaves, always the latest growths, and 
cut just below a joint, inserted in a 
2-inch pot of sand and loam, the end 
of the cutting well down to bottom of 
pot and the pot plunged in some mate- 
rial where the bottom heat is 80 de- 
grees, will usually meet with success. 
Keep the cuttings after the first water- 




A Wreath of Roses. 



ing only moderately moist. As the 
leaves are much in the way a small 
stick is inserted in the pot to which 
the leaves are drawn up. If this were 
not done they would take up a great 
deal ot room and be inconvenient to 
water. They should be well rooted in 
the small pots before being shifted. 
Late spring is a good time to propa- 
gate by cuttings. 

By the mossing system failure is a'.- 
most Impossible. August and Septem- 
ber are favorable months for the oper- 
ation because the wood is about right 
then, but it can be done at any time. 
The tops of young plants can be taken, 
although large branching trees are 
usually kept where they are propa- 
gated in any quantity. Nine or ten 
inches from the tip of the shoot, where 
the wood is not too green nor too hard, 
a cut is made in the wood upwards 
about an inch and a half long from the 
bark to about halt way through the 
shoot. Sphagnum moss is inserted to 
keep the cut open and more moss 
wrapped round to entirely envelop the 
stem where the cut has been made. It 
the moss when tied on is as large as a 
hen's egg you have enough on. Keep 
the moss syringed daily. 

In five or six weeks you will see 
roots protruding through the moss. 
Let them get well rooted and then 
sever from the plant just below the 
moss, and pot. The young plants 
should be kept from sun and draught 
till they take hold of the new soil. 

Most florists are pleased to inform 
their customers that this is the plant 
that produces the rubber of commerce, 
and a slight scratch on a shoot will 
soon show the milky sap, but they are 



mistaken. Ficus elastica is a native 
of the East Indies, and our rubber 
comes from Brazil and from a tree that 
is very unlike Ficus elastica. 

nTTONIA. 

Very pretty little trailing plants that 
require a good heat at all times. They 
are easily propagated in the spring in 
warm sand. A few plants in a 6 or 8- 
inch pan will soon cover it and make 
very ornamental pans tor the table. 
For large ferneries they are very use- 
ful. They like shade and plenty of 
water during summer when growing. 

F. gigantea is somewhat erect, with 
pale red flowers and finely veined 
leaves. 

F. Verschaffeltii and its varieties, 
argyroneura and Pearcei, arejKthe 
kinds useful to the florist, being dwarf, 
spreading and compact, entirely cover- 
ing the pot or pan with their very or- 
namental foliage. The leaves of the 
former are bright green, with a trac- 
ing ot pure white. Tj^ latter is also 
green, with veins of bright carmine. 

FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS. 

Within twenty years there has been 
a great change in our floral arrange- 
ments and designs. This has been 
partly brought about by the innova- 
tions ot the more enlightened florist 
and partly by the more refined taste 
of our customers who have rebelled 
against the same old conventional ar- 
rangements. Time was when the cen- 
ter-piece of the table was an elaborate 
lofty affair, very complicated in de- 
sign and three or four feet high, and 
it the host at the head of the table 



96 



T'iE FLORISTS' Manual. 




A Vase of Roses. 



wished to see those at the other eud 
he or she had to lean over at a tilting 
angle. Reason has abolished all this 
and whatever flowers are used now are 
in low baskets or trays or vases with 
flowers on their natural stems. This 
wiping out of these very artificial ar- 
rangements may be a loss to some 
[•lasses of florists, but who can regret 
the more natural and beautiful use of 
flowers which prevails today. 

Basinets or trays are still used for 
liolding the roses, carnations, violets 
or orchids, but we expect to see these 
go soon and all flowers used in vases 
of some kind for all decorations. They 
last better, they look better, it is bet- 
ter taste and more comfort to the 
guest to look upon a vase of roses 
whose petals and leaves are plump and 
fresh than upon those whose heads 
begin to droop, for you will be of a 
strange build yourself if you do not 
feel a wilting come over your spirits 
in a more or less degree when you 
look upon a wilted arrangement of 
flowers. The wilted diule rolled in the 
gutter over night is not a more piti- 
able sight than a basket of roses that 
have collapsed. And the less our cus- 
tomers see of these wilted flowers the 
better. 

At smaller dinner parties Maiden- 
hair fern or Farleyense or asparagus 
sprays are strewn on the table and 
here and there some flowers of the 
choicest kinds, rose buds, orchids or 
lily of the valley. This is a beautiful 
arrangement and most pleasing to the 
guest if not overdone. Very seldom 
now that any design of flowers, wheth- 
er for the table or a gift, is made of 
more than one or two varieties of 







A Vase of Carnations. 



The FLORISTS' manual. 



97 



flowers, and more often, with the ex- 
ception of orchids, it is only one va- 
riety. It is a basinet of pink and white 
roses, or all Meteor or Ijiberty roses, or 
American Beauties, all lily of the val- 
ley, or valley and violets. Perhaps 
all violets and perhaps violets and Ro- 
man hyacinths. It is almost impos- 
sible to make an ugly combination of 
carnations, they blend so finely, yet 
they are most often chosen in one col- 
or or at most one or two shades. Tulips 
and narcissus are scarcely ever used 
except in one color. 

Orchids are of such a fantastic shape 
and pleasing colors that a variety is 
prettier tlian a mass of one sort. A 
basket of all CatUeya Trianae would 
be very rich, almost too lieavy, and the 
addition of cypripcdiiims and onci- 
diums would be an improvement and 
entirely in keeping with the nature of 
the flowers. The orchids are from the 
tropics where the vegetable kingdom is 
all jumbled up and thousands of spe- 
cies to the acre, while the natives of 
a cooler clime, our roses and carna- 
tions and vioiets, grow in colonies as 
do the wild flowers of the northern 
temperate zone. 

It is ditlicult to foresee any great im- 
provement in the arrangement of our 
flowers for decorations over the pre- 
vailing taste and customs of the pres- 
ent day. There need not be less used 
because the arrangement is simple. 
Flowers on their own stems is the or- 
der of the day and the longer the 
flowers last in their beauty the more 
there will be wanted, for in many 
homes now and in the future, in every 
home, liunible as well as palatial, some 
flower will be considered not a luxury 
but an essential and comfort. 

A great many florists in this coun- 
try, especially sliop or store Iveepers, 
depend very largely on the funeral 
orders for their living. If the prevail- 
ing fashion of sending flowers, par- 
ticularly designs, to the family of the 
bereaved were suddenly to become un- 
fashionable with all classes of society 
there are several thousand flower 
stores throughout the land that would 
be to rent for some other class of busi- 
ness. It is not likely to go so sud- 
denly out of fashion but it will 
change; and the change has already 
tome with many people. A large num- 
ber of citizens recently banded them- 
selves together in Cleveland and in my 
city and perhaps others, to protect 
themselves against "The enormous and 
extravagant expense of funerals, the 
outlay and display made at the funeral 
of the dead often leaving the survivors 
in hopeless debt." 

Carriages and flowers of course come 
in for a good part of these worthy peo- 
ple's condemnation. There is no 
doubt that the expense of many fune- 
rals is out of all proportion to the 
means of the family; it is ridiculous 
and almost criminal to see such osten- 
tation, and we often suffer from it. 
An instance occurred the other day. 
Forty dollars' worth of flowers were 
ordered and delivered, and a month or 
so afterwards the collector was told 




Wreath of Ivy Leaves and Orchids. 




A Plain Crescent Wreath. 



98 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 










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A Shower Bouquet of Lily of the Valley and Cypripediums. 

by the poor widow that. "The children 
had gone too far in ordering, and ad- 
ded that her husband had led a double 
life, having a wife in St. Louis as well 
as here in Buffalo, and instead of hav- 
ing ten thousand dollars lite insurance, 
as she supposed, he had none, and she 
was penniless. And there are lots of 
such cases. 

In those times of distress and excite- 
ment people are often careless about 
expenses. You can't very well ask for 
payment before the articles are deliv- 
ered and it's hard hearted to send an 
order C. O. D. or to call around the 
next day with your bill. Looking at it 
in a business way. without sympathy, 
when you know the family is quite 
poor, persuade them that very little is 
necessary. When a number of friends 
are uniting together to send a deceased 
friend a design, get all you possibly 
can. They won't miss it and it's a 
worthy way to distribute wealth, and 
distributed it is. as is the outlay for 
all luxuries as well as necessities. 

No association or legislation or ad- 
vice or admonition from pastor or 



A Simple Form of Broken Column. 




A Small Pillow. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



99 



bishop can stop or abolish the use ot 
flowers at funerals; for there is noth- 
ing else you can do. In no other way 
can you show your sympathy. With 
some people the use of flowers at the 
grave is as old as history and will con- 
tinue. But fashion and a more refined 
taste will modify and change the man- 
ner of their use. 

We read constantly of the obsequies 
of some illustrious personage in Eu- 
rope and the flowers used are invaria- 
bly in the shape of a wreath. You 
would think they knew of nothing 
else but a wreath, for it is a wreath 
from the emperor of Germany or 
Queen Victoria or the "Honorable 
Guild of Candlestick Makers of the 
Ancient City of London." They never 
rise above or below a wreath, and 
when you read of carloads of wreaths, 
or that it took one hundred men to 
carry the wreaths, as it did at the fu- 
neral of the late president of France. 
you feel nauseated, as if you had sat 
down to a dinner of fourteen courses, 
but every course was the same old 
thing. I may be mistaken, but I don't 
think they stick to this very ancient 
but still most beautiful design be- 
cause they haven't heard of any other; 
it is solely because it is simple and 
chaste, and they don't want any other. 
Yet it seems that a bunch or loose ar- 
rangement of roses or carnations or 
orchids would be a relief and change 
from the everlasting wreath. 

Our best people (by that I don't 
mean necessarily the most virtuous, 
but the people of wealth and refine- 
ment and the taste and education 
which wealth affords) have almost en- 
tirely set their faces against the elab- 
orate designs that were used by all 
classes twenty years ago. Gates ajar 
and broken columns and scrolls, and 
even crosses and anchors are never 
seen or ordered by that class who lead 
in fashion, and depend upon it the 
other strata of society will copy and 
emulate the well-to-do as they do in 
every particular where their means 
can possibly reach. 

Floral arrangements for the more 
refined are almost entirely now limited 
to loose arrangements. Cycas leaves, 
two or three dozen roses, lily of the 
valley, a bunch of Roman hyacinths. 
A wreath is often used, but it is usual- 
ly some distinct design. Ivy leaves 
with lily of the valley or all valley. 
orchids, or all roses, or valley and vio 
lets, or all violets. And in many cases 
the above flowers are bought and sent 
to the house of mourning simply with 
a card and loosely in a box. 

It would be absurd for the florist to 
discourage the use of large designs 
where they are wanted, and in case of 
societies who wish to send a design to 
a late brother or sister there is noth- 
ing but a large design to send, and the 
catering to this class ot business is 
quite lucrative with many. Where the 
design is a pillow, broken column, an- 
chor or scroll, there is rrom for a dis- 
play of skill and art, but where the de- 
sign represents the calling of the de- 
parted there is no art, it is merely 




Lo-w Basket of Violets and Small Ferns. 



JOO 



The FLORISTS' MAISfUAL. 




A Laurel Wreath with Cycas Leaves. 



longer do we see the solemn whiteness 
in bunches or designs, or any arrange- 
ments. Why should we? I think the 
fashion of white flowers is as absurd 
as the deep mourning assumed by 
many. A long black veil only attracts 
notice and attention, and surely the 
broken-hearted and sincere mourner 
does not want to attract attention. 

The crowding of flowers in a design 
is no longer permissible. Every flower 
should if possible show its individual- 
ity. The whole should blend and every 
flower and leaf should be fresh and 
spotlessly clean. And let me add in 
conclusion that when you take an or- 
der for a design and promise it at a 
certain hour see that it is delivered on 
time. Punctuality gets a large credit 
mark in the public favor. 

FREESIA. 

These graceful, fragrant flowers are 
of the easiest culture. The bulbs are 
now sold remarkably cheap, cheaper 
in fact than you can save them. The 
species called refracta and refracta 
alba are mostly grown. The latter is 
pure white, witbout the yellovJ blotch 
in the throat. We too often plant a 
large lot of freesia bulbs at one time, 
thus having more than our demand 
makes profitable. You receive the 
bulbs in July, and every two or three 
weeks a few hundred can be started. 

Their treatment is entirely different 
from the so-called Dutch Ijulbs, and 
sometimes mistakes are made. We 
usually plant seven to nine bulbs in a 
.5-inch pot. Put the bulb a little under 
the surface and place the pots in a 
cold-frame. Later batches you will 
start inside. The pots want no cover- 
ing of any kind, as the top and roots 
start together. Water moderately till 
the foliage is well developed. When 
the pots are full of roots they should 
not suffer for water. They like a tem- 
perature of about 50 degrees at night 
and should always have the fullest 
light. 

A good loam with some well rotted 
manure or leaf-mold will grow them; 



mechanical, bad taste and bound to 
sink into disuse. It is impossible to 
make beautiful such a thing as a fire- 
man's hat, a locomotive, a safe, a gun, 
a desk; or in case of a brewer, a quar- 
ter barrel keg. There is no skill in 
making those designs; the wire work- 
er is the only man who exercised any 
skill; putting the flowers into the mon- 
strosities is no more than putting on 
an overcoat; the tailor is the man 
who had the skill; if you depart from 
the lines laid down by the frame you 
spoil the imitation. 

There is a wonderful change in the 
material used since the days of bal- 
sams and hollyhocks, when a design 
resembled a clipped sheep, with a Saf- 
rano bud here and there raised above 
the surface a fraction over the rest; 
and tuberoses were a very important 
flower. Funeral designs are now made 
with great taste. Fine flowers are 
used and color is not forbidden. No 



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Hamper filled with Violets, Heath and Adiantum Ferns. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



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PPHM^ I Shipped in anv quantitv, from 
f tnlH^ ' l^JUO to lOO.OOU at a time. 
■ ^■"■*' ■ Write for prices. 

FINE LAUREL FESTOONING, $:, per lOJ yards. 

FINE LAUREL WREATHS. PRINCESS PINE 
WREATHS, for Xmas and Decorations. 
FIiOWERIKG I.AUREI., MIc per buncli, extra 
nice. Galax Iieaves, Mosses, Etc., £tc. 

CROWL FERN CO., Millington, Mass. 

Telegraph office, New Salem, ftlass. 



CUT 



1 



LOWERS 



ROSES, CARNATIONS. 

LILIES, SMILAX, ETC. 

Always fresh of our own growing. 
Send for cut flower price list. 

J. L. DILLON, BLOOMSBURG, PA. 

BENTHEY & CO. 



WHOLESA 
COMM 



F. F. BENTHEY, Mgr. 

iisiss Florists. ioTS"""' 



<*^.^ 



McKellar & Winterson, 



I Wholesale F|^r.l*i+ci 

I Commission ■ lOPISlS, 

I 45-47-49 Wabash Avenue, - - - - CHICAGO, f 

WE HAVE THE LARGEST WHOLESALE HOUSE IN CHICAGO. | 

OUR SPECIALTIES : ^"^^^'^S' HIGH-GRADE ROSES,! 



41 Randolph St., CHICAGO. 



I """ -'■"'"'■■—■ CARNATIONS AND VIOLETS f 

•? Full line of FLORISTS' SUPPLIES, SEEDS, BULBS, HARDY STOCK. f 

Cut Elowers, Florists' Supplies, Wire Designs. 

WM. F. KASTING, 

WHOLESALE 
FLORIST, 
481 Washington Street, 
BUFPALO, !N. Y. 

Price Lists and Catalogues 

on Application. Long Distance Phone« Seneca 620. 




Bassett&Wasiurn c. a. ku eh n ^m-^ ste™ ..«^. 



76 Wabash Ave, CHICAGO, ILL. 
Wholesale^Growersof^^J p^QWERS 

Greenhouses at Hinsdale. III. 



Geo. A. Kuhl, 

WHOLESALE 

ROSES, CARNATIONS, 

MUMS AND SMILAX, 

PEKIN, ILL. 



WHOLESALE FLORIST. 

Cut Flowers and Florists' Supplies. 

Manufacturer of tile Patent Wire Clamp Floral 
Designs. .\ full line of Supplies always on 
hand. Write for catalogue and prices. 

1122 PINE STREET, - ST. LOUIS. MO. 



I HAVE IT! WHAT? 

ANYTHING IN FLOWERS.... 
H. G. BERNING, 

Wholesale Florist, 
1322 Pine Street, ST. LOUIS, MO. 



FLORISTS' 



OS 



IRE... 
DESIGNS 



...AND SUPPLIES... 
335 East 21st Street. NEW YORK. 

WE CAN SUPPLY 

ELECTROTYPES 

of most of (he engraving In this 
book, at 15 cents a square Inch. 

FLORISTS' PUB. CO.. 

Caxton Building. CHICAGO. 



ijiit(tjtttii(t((itii(tii((ii(^i(aiit(MM 



I'ri'i'l'i'lM'll 



7(Sa 






For weekly hints on the latest in the arrangement of 
Flowers, consult the ^'Retail Florist*^ department in the Flor- 
ists^ Review, issued weekly at $1.00 a year, by the 

Florists' Publishing Company, 

520-535 Caxton Building. CHICAGO. 



J02 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



do not give them poor, worn-out soil 
as you can a tulip. 

Pots that have flowered can be stored 
away after the foliage is ripe and the 
bulbs shaken out and started again the 
following fall, but as stated above the 
bulbs are now produced so fine and 
cheap that it is better to buy every 
year. Freesias will endure a few de- 
grees of frost without any harm, but 
don't let the dry bulbs freeze when 
out of the ground. 

FUCHSIA. 

Plants that have been grown in 
greenhouses for more than a century, 
and a favorite with all. There are a 
great many species, mostly all from 
South America, but the true species 
are now seldom seen. The hybrid va- 
rieties are those of the commercial 
florists, and firms that make a special - 
t.v of soft-wooded plants are con- 
tinually sending out new varieties. 
Many of my readers will remember old 
Fuchsia fulgens. with its clustered ra- 
ceme of fiowers at the end of the 
shoots; and many are also acquainted 
with F. macrostema; both true spe- 
cies, but very unlike. 

In the milder parts of Great Britain 
you will see such varieties as Rose of 
Castile trained up the front of veran- 
das as we do clematis, showing that 
they withstand a good freezing, and 
many of the species are treated as 
hardy shrubs, the winter killing the 
tops, but the plant makes a strong 
growth again in the spring, just as 
our basket willows are cut down and 
an annual growth is made. Where the 
thermometer does not go below 15 de- 
grees these species will winter very 
well. We treat the fuchsia as a very 
short-lived plant, seldom growing the 
plant more than one year, but in its 
native Andes it is a shrub, or even 
small tree. 

With us fuchsias are often used for 
summer bedding, but they never can 
be any part of a formal flower garden 
because they would conform with no 
other beds. Nor will they thrive in 
the broad sun. Behind buildings or 
hedges or where they will get only the 
morning sun, and where they are no 
part of any design, they make very 
pleasing beds. The soil should be 
deep and rich and where the hose can 
reach them a number of varieties can 
be used: one-year-old plants are al- 
ways better for this purpose than the 
spring struck plants. Plants that have 
been wintered almost dormant and 
bedded out in early May before they 
are started will be much surer of suc- 
cess than plants out of a warm green- 
house. 

Thousands of fuchsias are sold in 
our cities during April and May and 
used up among the class of people 
who want a few plants for their win- 
dow. The latest arrivals from Europe 
are the largest consumers of fuchsia" 
Plants should be selected or obtained 
in the spring, not later than May, and 
grown on carefully. By July they 
should be at their best. In July these 
plants should be plunged outside in 







!^^\>4 



Wreath of Laurel with Lilacs and Cycas Leaves. 



the sun, or only partial shade. They 
will grow very little more, but will 
ripen their wood. Leave them out of 
doors till after the first very slight 
frost. By that time (say middle of Oc- 
tober) the shoots will be ripe and the 
leaves off. Bring them in and for two 
weeks they can stand in a cool shed, 
or be laid under a bench. 

By November 1st shorten back the 
lateral growths to firm, ripe wood and 
start them in a house at -55 to 60 de- 
grees. Syringe daily. Soon you will 
see signs of new growth, when they 
should be shaken out and repotted in 
fresh soil and in two or three weeks 
you will get your first batch of cut- 
tings, and successive lots to the fol- 
lowing February. That is as late as 
you can propagate fuchsias and make 
plants that are any gon.d that summer. 
Few cuttings root more freely than 
fuchsias. With the sand at 70 and the 
atmosphere at 55 you will root just 
five-score for every 100 cuttings you 
put in. 

Fuchsias when giown in pots want 
a very rich soil; two parts loam, one 
part rotten manure and one part leaf- 
mold will grow them finely. Pot fair- 
ly firm, but not as solid as you would 



with geraniums. Fifty to fifty-five de- 
grees at night is about right. An abun- 
dance of water, daily syringing and a 
shade from the hottest suns in April 
and May is the treatment. 

Most of our fuchsias are sold in 4 
and 5-inch pots. From the cutting bed 
to a 2%-inch and from that to a 4-inch 
and from that to a 5-inch. With some 
varieties (such a one was old Elm 
City) they were allowed to go straight 
up and the plant formed a most sym- 
metrical pyramid shape, but few of 
the varieties will do that, and they are 
generally pinched when a few inches 
high, which gives them two or three 
leading shoots and makes a more com- 
pact plant. Some varieties can be 
stopped the second time, which makes 
them fine little bushes. 

In selecting varieties see that they 
are good growers and of a good habit; 
that is everything. Raisers of new 
varieties have produced some enor- 
mous double fiowers, both white and 
purple or red corollas, but the plants 
are not good. Broadly it may be said 
that in producing the double corolla 
you have added nothing to the beauty 
of the fuchsia. Many of the single 
varieties have the most grace and 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



103 



White corolla, scarle; 
Mauve corolla, crim- 



beauty and are usually the finest grow- 
ers. 

Plants that are wanted tor outside 
beds should be wintered over in pots 
in a very cool, light cellar or cool 
house and given only water enough to 
keep them from shriveling. Large 
specimens that are wanted for summer 
use are also wintered very cool, short- 
ened back in the spring, mulched or 
shifted and started growing slowly. 
Our hot summers are against fuchsias. 

Varieties are innumerable. Mr. E. G. 
Hill, of Richmond. Ind.. and others im- 
port yearly all the newer varieties and 
test their merits for our climate. 

A leading establishment describes 
the following: 

Double Varieties. 

Cervantes: Purple corolla, crimson 
sepals. 

Phenominal: Dark plum color, great 
size. 

Mme. Thibaut: White corolla, crim- 
son sepals. 

Molesworth: White corolla, crimson 
sepals. 

Storm King: 
sepals. 

Pres. Carnot 
son sepals. 

Single Varieties. 

Annie Earle: Carmine corolla, white 
sepals. 

Beacon: Carmine corolla, scarlet se- 
pals. 

Brilliant: Scarlet corolla, white se- 
pals. 

Earl of Beaconsfield: Orange corol 
la and sepals. 

Mrs. Marshall: Carmine corolla, 
white sepals. 

Speciosa: Orange scarlet corolla, 
white sepals; an old but standard vari- 
ety and one of the very best for use in 
veranda boxes or beds. 

Black Prince: Corolla and sepals 
carmine. This is a grand market vari- 
ety; the best of growers, fine habit, 
and a profuse bloomer. 

Fuchsias should be used in vases 
and veranda boxes only where the su:i 
reaches them for but a few hours dur- 
ing the day. They may look attractive 
when first put in a vase, but are soon 
leafless stalks without shade and plen- 
ty of water. 

FUNGICIDES AND INSECTICIDES. 

If it were not for our enemies the 
aphides, spider, thrip, mealy bug and 
many other minute animals, with the 
low plant organisms, the mildews, 
rusts, etc.. our calling would be com- 
paratively easy, and we are not the 
only ones. The fruit grower, market 
gardener and farmer all have their 
foes, compelling us to keep up a con- 
tinual watch and fight against their at- 
tacks. 

It is really half the battle to keep 
our minute enemies at bay, but think 
what would be the consequence if 
there were no greenfly or red spider, 
no mildew or rust. What would be 
the profits of flower growing? It 
would be small, for every careless fel- 



low would have what is called "Good 
luck." As it is it is not good luck but 
good reward for continual care, watch- 
fulness and industry. Perhaps it is 
just as well as it is. for although you 
can scarcely imagine in a past or fu- 
ture paradise that white scale will 
trouble the orange trees, or some fu- 
ture Eve will have to apply kerosene 
emulsion for mealy bug, the present 
time is one that rewards the gardener 
tor his industry and faithfulness to his 
duty, and no little part of his thoughts 
are taken up repelling the attacks of 
the many afflictions he is heir to in 
the fungoid and insect line. 

Peter Henderson wrote more than 
thirty years ago that the least excus- 
able of the gardener's failings was al- 
lowing his plants to become infested 
with aphis, because it was easily reme- 
died. Quite right. Yet you see men 
today walk through their carnation 
houses where every shoot is covered 
with aphis. If any remark is made the 
reply is usually: "Yes. I must smoke." 
Or: "I am all out of stems. I must 
get some." Alas, the greenfly is the 
least to be dreaded. It succumbs to 
tobacco in several forms. Not so with 
all our insects and as for the mildews 



and rusts it is more the condition of 
the plant that we must improve than 
to combat the diseases. Keep the plant 
vigorous and its environments right 
and the mildew and rust will not ap- 
pear. 

Some years ago I attempted to grow 
Mermet roses in a house that could not 
on cold nights be kept at over 50 de- 
grees, and very cold nights perhaps not 
over 47 degrees. I did not pick many 
roses, but the plants looked healthy. 
One morning I discovered the end ven- 
tilator open six inches and the ther- 
mometer down to 10 degrees outside. 
I thought to myself frost inside sure, 
if not, then a good dose of mildew. It 
was nearly a frost, but not a sign of 
mildew appeared. The plants were 
making a slow, firm growth and could 
stand the chill they got. If the house 
had been kept steadily at 58 or 60 de- 
grees mildew would have appeared for 
certain. The above is not quoted to 
instruct you in rose growing by any 
means. 

Man and other animals hate a 
draught and so do plants. Man can 
stand for a while in a gale of wind 
and the mercury at zero with no more 
damage than cold fingers and chilled 




Cross of Eucharis Flowers. 



104 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



nose, but let him sit in a warm room 
with a draught of cold air on him, 
even If it is only a few degrees cooler 
than the room, and the result is often 
pneumonia. And so, I believe, it is 
with plants, and why not? 

In no part of the exercise of our 
business is the old adage, "Prevention 
is better than cure," so true as it is 
with our minute enemies. With the 
fungoids that come because the vital- 
ity of the plant is checked, guard 
against any neglect, day and night, 
and with the insects that will attack 
our plants even in the best of health 
apply your remedies regularly, not to 
cure but to prevent. 

The formulas tor several of the fol- 
lowing solutions and fungicides are 
copied from the bulletin issued by the 
Cornell Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion by E. G. Lodeman, February. 
1895', a copy of which all growers 
should avail themselves of. 

Bordeaux Mixture. 

Copper sulphate, 6 lbs. 

Quicklime, 4 lbs. 

Water, 40 to 50 gallons. 

Dissolve the copper sulphate by put- 
ting it in a bag or coarse cloth and 
hanging this in a vessel holding at 
least four gallons, so that it is just 
covered by the water. Use an earthen 
or wooden vessel. Slake the lime in an 
equal quantity of water, then mix the 
two and add water enough to make 40 
gallons. It is then ready for immedi- 
ate use, but will keep indefinitely. If 
to be used on young, tender leaves, it 
is advisable to add an extra pound of 
lime to the formula. When applied to 
such plants as carnations it will ad- 
here better to the leaves it about one 
pound of hard soap is dissolved and 
added to the mixture. 

The above is for rots, moulds, mil- 
dews and fungous diseases. 

Ammoniacal Copper Carbonate. 

Copper carbonate, 1 oz. 

Ammonia enough to dissolve the 
copper. 

Water. 9 gallons. 

The copper carbonate is best dis- 
solved in large bottles, when it will 
keep indefinitely, and diluted with 
water as required. Used for the same 
purpose as Bordeaux mixture. 
Copper Sulphate Solution. 

Copper sulphate, 1 lb. 

Water, 15 gallons. 

Dissolve the copper in the water, 
when it is ready for use. This should 
not be used on any foliage, but can be 
used on the wood of trees and shrubs 
before the buds start. 

Paris Green. 

Paris green, 1 lb. 

Water, 200 gallons. 

This will do for poisoning all insects 
that chew, such as caterpillars and 
worms. We have found that in apply- 
ing the parts green it was necessary 
to add something to make the solution 
stick to the leaves, and you can use 
with the above quantities two or three 



pounds of hard soap, dissolved, or add 
two quarts of the Rose Leaf extract of 
tobacco, which is of a sticky nature. 

London Purple. 

This can be used in the same pro- 
portion as parts green. To make this 
safer to use on the foliage of chrysan- 
themums add one pound of slaked 
lime. This also is for insects that 
chew. 

Florists do not always remember the 
distinction between the chewers and 
suckers. The aphides bore into the 
tissue of plants and suck the juices, 
and although they may be drenched 
with the parts green solution would 
feel no ill effects from it. The worms 
and caterpillars eat the surface of the 
leaves and must consequently get the 
poison into their stomachs. 

Hellebore. 

Fresh white hellebore, 1 ounce. 

Water, 3 gallons. 

Apply when thoroughly mixed. This 
poison is not so energetic as arsenites 
and may be used on the more tender 
growths for insects that chew. 

Kerosene Emulsion. 

Hard soap, Vz lb. 

Boiling water, 1 gallon. 

Kerosene, 2 gallons. 

Dissolve the soap in the water by 
cutting into thin slices; add the kero- 
sene and agitate with a syringe till 
thoroughly mixed. In this condition, 
when cool, it will become of the con- 
sistency of sour milk and may be kept 
indefinitely. Dilute twenty to thirty 
times with water when applying. I'se 
strong emulsion for all scale insects. 

This is used for all insects that suck, 
as green, black and yellow fly (the lat- 
ter the most troublesome on chrysan- 
themums), mealy bugs, red spider, 
thrips, and all worms with soft bodies 
will succumb to this. 

It should, however, be always used 
with caution. It is best to try the 
weakest emulsion first. 

Hydrocyanic Acid Gas, 

Water, 1 quart. 

Sulphuric acid, 1 quart. 

Cyanide of potash, 5 oz. 

The above quantities are right for 
l.OOO cubic feet of air space in your 
houses, and measurements and quan- 
tities must be accurate. As many 
thousand cubic feet of air as your 
house contains, so many vessels you 
must have. Butter jars are the best 
for the purpose and they should be 
placed on the floor of the house, not 
among or near the plants. The house 
must be shut down closely and mu-t 
be opened again in half an hour. 

As this gas is very deadly you must 
contrive to let the cyanide down 
through a small hole in the glass, or 
through a crack in the ventilator. As 
the 5 oz. parcel is a small affair a very 
thin piece of string attached will do. 
We suspend the cyanide to the end of 
the string, as many as required, and 
divided equally in the house. Beneath 
place the jars, each containing 1 quart 



of the acid; then add 1 quart of water, 
and when each jar is ready the cyanide 
of potash is lowered into the jars. An 
explosion, as it may be called, imme- 
diately follows, the gas is generated in- 
stantly, and that is why you would 
not dare to be in the house, for you 
would stop breathing in an instant. 
This gas is death to every insect that 
breathes, and does not hurt the most 
tender foliage. 

Mr. Saltford. of Poughkeepsie, who 
gave me the formula, showed me a 
Maidenhair fern that was in perfect 
health that had frequently been ex- 
posed to the gas. I used the gas sev- 
eral times last winter on violets with 
the best results. 

As compared with tobacco smoke it 
is quite expensive and same trouble to 
apply, but if it saves a crop of violets 
from the ravages of that minute fly 
that punctures the leaf, laying an egg 
which destroys the tissue of the leaf 
and produces what we call curl leaf, 
it is certainly worth ten times the cost 
and labor. It is applied principally to 
destroy the almost invisiljle insects so 
injurious to violets, but while doing 
that it utterly destroys green fly, red 
spider, centipedes and all else that 
breathes. It leaves no objectionable 
odor. 

Have the jar in which you generate 
the gas four times as large as the mix- 
ture of water and acid, and when pur- 
chasing the cyanide of potash have 
each 5 oz. package well wrapped in 
double paper. 

Sulphur. 

Sulphur in different forms is the 
great antidote for fungus, and our 
chief rose enemy, the mildew, is a 
fungus. The flour of sulphur is often 
dusted on the plants. This is perhaps 
the least useful method, and sulphur 
should never be allowed to reach the 
soil. It is sometimes sprinkled on the 
pipes, and sometimes placed in shallow 
pans and placed where the rays of the 
sun will strike it, as when at a high 
temperature it gives oft its fumes that 
destroy the spores of the fungus. 

I think it is most beneficial, most 
easily applied, and the least harmful 
to the plants when it is mixed with 
linseed oil and painted on the pipes. 
Don't overdo it. Where there are eight 
or ten hot water pipes, or twenty 
small steam pipes, paint the upper 
surface of one pipe; that will be suffi- 
cient. We think the oil does some 
good with the sulphur. This is an ex- 
cellent preventive of mildew. 

Sulphur is sometimes burnt on hot 
liricks or an old shovel made red hot. 
I have done it and it is of course a 
very effective way of applying the 
deadly fumes, but you must be very 
(areful and directly the odor of sul- 
phur is plainly noted you must move 
on a few yards. When the carnation 
rust was at its worst a few years ago 
we burnt a great deal of sulphur in 
the houses when they were entirely 
empty in the month of August. We 
made it strong enough to kill a Kil- 
kenny cat and trust it killed all the 



The Rorists' Mapwal. 



JOS 



stores and germs of the rust and other 
fungous diseases. 

Sulphide of potassium, Ivuown as 
"liver ot sulphur," is a good prevent- 
ive and possibly a cure for mildew. I 
have used it dissolved in water and 
then mixed with clay till it was the 
consistency of molasses, and on the 
pipes put a dab of the paint here and 
there, say every three feet. " It is 
stronger than the common sulphur. Or 
the roses can be syringed with it; 1 
lb. in 50 gallons of water. 

Tobacco. 

What could we do in the absence of 
this wonderful weed? As a luxury it 
is possibly dispensable, and so are tea 
and coffee, but as an insecticide it is 
a great essential. Till we iind some- 
thing better it is the great cure-all 
ot many a florist's establishment. 
Where fumigation is not possible or 
permissible, as in conservatories at- 
tached to dwelling houses, it is used 
as dust or in the liquid form, but 
"smoking," as the gardener calls it, 
is the way it is universally applied; 
most effective and cheapest. 

Most florists in or near a large town 
get their stems from the cigarmaker 
and pay for them with a plant occa- 
sionally sent to Mrs. Havana Filler. 
If you have to purchase the stems they 
cost little. Every florist knows his 
own way of fumigating. I for one don't 
believe in placing it on the floor to 
burn itself out. I prefer it in an iron 
or galvanized iron vessel that can be 
moved along. If you can't stand the 
smoke, learn to; go to a New York 
Florists' "smoker," and after that you 
will survive not only tobacco smoke 
but the fumes of sulphur. Tobacco 
stems get very dry in our sheds and 
are apt to flare if not moistened. The 
stems should be shaken out a few 
hours before you intend to smoke and 
sprinkled. They will then be moist, 
without being wet. 

How thick or dense tobacco smoke 
should be is a matter of experience. It 
is experience that allows us to endure 
it when it is so thick you can scarcely 
see your hand before you, and would 
quickly suffocate the tenderfoot. Light- ' 
!y and often is the motto always to 
follow. This has been often preached 
before, yet how true and wise it is. 
Don't wait to see three generations of 
green fly sucking the life blood out of 
your plants, but have a day to smoke 
and remember that day, or rather 
night, to keep it smoky. 

There are a few plants that are eas- 
ily injured by tobacco smoke, and 
plants having flowers with thin single 
petals should not be exposed to fumi- 
gation when in flower. Those plants 
that are hurt by tobacco smoke will 
be noted in their respective cultural 
directions. 

I never noticed that it was any in- 
jury to carnations except that it de- 
stroyed their odor and left in its place 
that of stale tobacco, which will last 
on the flowers for twenty-four hours. 
There is a difference of opinion about 
its effect on roses that are producing 



buds. Some large growers say they 
fumigate and see no harm, but the 
majority of good rose growers keep 
down the aphis by other methods, and 
the writer sides with the latter. I have 
on many occasions seen the petals of 
our best tea roses. Brides and Brides- 
maids, malformed and discolored from 
no cause but tobacco smoke. 

Rose growers who use steam have 
tin vessels which hold one or two bush- 
els of tobacco stems,which are chopped 
up as a hay cutter would cut them. 
Into the bottom of this tin vessel 
runs a half-inch steam pipe. You can 
have as many of them as your house 
requires. When the steam is turned 
on a dense vapor fills the house, which 
of course contains nicotine. This is 
an effectual way of killing the fly, but 
is objected to by some as producing a 
soft growth on the roses, and vaporiz- 
ing the extracts of tobacco is preferred 
by many. 

Some growers profess to keep down 
the aphis by strewing the stems on the 
pipes and paths, or laying them be- 
tween the plants in bunches. This will 
keep down the aphis if you start per- 
fectly clean and change the stems 
every two weeks, but it will not kill 
the fly if they once have a start. 

Although tobacco contains the nico- 
tine which is so useful yet a deadly 
poison, the stems when rotten are not 
in the least injurious to the soil. I 
have seen tons of decayed tobacco 
stems plowed into the land which pro- 
duced fine crops. 

Tobacco Extracts. 

The Rose Leaf extract is now largely 
used and saves the florist the trouble 
of making his own solution out of the 
stems, and it is doubtless better. It 
can be used diluted 75 times and will 
rid plants of aphis, red spider and 
thrip. Rose growers who heat with 
hot water and can't vaporize as de- 
scribed above can use this extract to 
great advantage. In a 20 or 22-foot 
house, at every thirty feet, you can 
place a pie dish, say 12x6 inches and 6 
inches deep. Dilute some extract in 
ten parts of water and pour into the 
dishes to the depth of one inch. Have 
some old pieces of iron, 8x4 inches and 
2 or 3 inches thick. We use pieces of 
old railroad iron of the old style, cut 
into 8 or 9-inch lengths. These are 
made red hot in the^ flre and carried 
with the help of a 'coal scuttle and 
tongs to the dishes on the walk, and 
when one is dropped into the tobacco 
extract there is directly a cloud of 
vapor which is very effectual in killing 
the aphis, and of no possible harm to 
the roses unless it be the softening of 
the growth. 

The vaporizing of the extract by di- 
luting it in ten parts of water and 
placing in small tin troughs that are 
made to lay on the upper pipe of a 
steam coil is a method used by many 
growers and answers the purpose well. 
The tins are replenished frequently 
and while you have steam in the pipes 
evaporation is continuous. It is too 



NIKOTEEN 



MAM- 
FACIURED 
BY 
THE 



A LIQUID 
INSECTICIDE. 

J 50 Pounds Tobacco in 
One Pint. 

Used for Fumigating or 

Spraying Indoors 

and Out. 

Will not injure the most 
Sensitive Blooms. 

Cost Four Cents for each 
600 feet floor space. 

Used by the most suc- 
cessful gro'wers 
everywhere. 

All Seedsmen Sell it. 



SKABCIRA DIP 
COMPANY, 



CHICAGO and 
ST. LOUIS. 



"NICOMITE" 

(PATENT) 

VAPOR INSECTICIDE. 

No labor required. 
Harmless to bloom and foliage. 
A certain killer of 
RED SPIDER. - GREEN FLY, 

and all other Insect Pests. 
SOLD BY SEEDSMEN. 

THE TOBACCO WAREHOUSING 
AND TRADING COMPANY, 

LOUISVILLE, KY. 



slight to any more than just notice, 
but so continuous that the aphis gets 
no chance to thrive. 

The extract that is known as Niko- 
teen answers every purpose of the 
Rose Leaf extract. It is more expen- 
sive by the gallon, but it has four 
times the strength and must be diluted 
four times as much. For syringing 
for spider and thrip it should be di- 
luted with water at least 200 to 1. It 
is cleaner and better to handle than 
the Rose Leaf. 

Fir Tree Ofl. 

This is an article largely used to 
kill the brown and white scale. The 
latter is much the worst to contend 
with. To ten gallons of water add a 
half pint of the oil. If the water is at 



106 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



a temperature of 100 degrees, so much 
the better. Large palms and other 
plants can be syringed and in half an 
hour be given a good syringing of 
clear water, when most of the scale 
will be destroyed. Small palms can 
be dipped or immersed entirely in the 
water, excepting, of course, the ball 
of earth, and shortly afterwards syr- 
inged with clear water. That is doing 
it most effectually. 

Palms received from Europe are 
often infested with this white scale 
and should be thoroughly cleaned be- 
fore placing among your other stock. 

Water. 

There are many compounds and 
mixtures advertised and sold for fungi- 
cides and insecticides, but those quot- 
ed will about fill the bill. And finally 
there is plain pure water, properly ap- 
plied. The use of the syringe or hose 
will save much labor and expense with 
insecticides if properly applied. Red 
spider, thrip or mealy bug should 
never be seen and never would be if a 
good gardener handled the hose. 

All the patent sprayers and hose at- 
tachments are not worth one cent. The 
forefinger of either hand is a marvel- 
ous attachment and can guide and di- 
vide the stream of water in any form 
or direction you choose. You can't 
talk to a fellow workman and intelli- 
gently and faithfully water a lot of 
plants in pots, much less syringe them. 
Your work needs all your thought and 
attention, and I will conclude this 
chapter by saying that a man who 
chatters or smokes at his work is of 
little use. Work in work hours, give 
all your mind to your work, and when 
the noon and evening hour comes you 
will enjoy the rest far better than if 
you had been discussing your mother- 
in-law or last employer. 

GARDENIA. 

In the days when short stemmed 
flowers were used the flowers of Gar- 
denia florida were much prized. 
Flowers are often sent from the 
southern states, but by the time they 
reach our northern cities they are 
much the worse for the journey and 
useless. They would not pay a florist 
to grow, but they are so deliciously 
fragrant that well grown plants are 
desirable for private conservatories. 

The gardenia is a dwarf evergreen 
shrub. The double form of G. florida, 
called the Cape Jessamine, resembles 
the flower of a small camellia. They 
are propagated from sideshoots of the 
half ripened wood in early spring in 
a strong bottom heat. Grow the plants 
on as quickly as possible, with plenty 
of heat and light. A good, fibrous, 
open loam with a fifth or sixth of rot- 
ten cow manure and leaf mould will 
do. Let the drainage be perfect, for 
they want a liberal allowance of 
water, especially when growing, and 
should be daily well syringed to keep 
down mealy bug and red spider. 

In California young plants are plant- 
ed on the benches under glass, each 



plant having a little mound to itself 
to insure perfect drainage, and that is 
necessary where so much syringing is 
resorted to. If grown commercially 
young plants are preferred, but large 
plants can be grown on. 

GERANIUM. 

All the geraniums that are so popu- 
lar with us — the show, fancy, ivy leaf, 
tricolor, zonal, etc., are botanically 
known as pelargoniums, but the name 
geranium is so firmly and popularly 
associated with our favorite bedding 
plants that it would be absurd for me 
to write of them under the much less 
familiar name of pelargonium. The 
show and fancy pelargoniums that so 
strangely are known to some people as 
"Lady" and "Martha Washingtons," I 
will treat under their proper name. 

The geranium needs no introduction, 
for if there is a plant known univer- 
sally by everyone it is the geranium. 
Within thirty years an immense im- 
provement has taken place, both in 
the habit of the plant and the grand 
form and color of the flower. The 
earliest double ones were a curiosity 
when flrst they came out, but they 
were so double that they were of little 
use, and now a form called semi-double 
has entirely displaced them. The semi- 
doubles have one advantage, the petals 
are not knocked oft" by a rain storm, 
and they have also a disadvantage. 
Some of the varieties, although excel- 
lent growers and remarkably free 
flowering, become unsightly by the in- 
ner florets losing color or decaying 
before the outside florets have opened. 

The single varieties are still most 
useful for bedding. The ivy leaf sec- 
tion have been improved as much as 
the zonals, having beautiful semi- 
double flowers, and now we have 
double flowers on the bronze and varie- 
gated type. Some of the variegated 
kinds, such as the useful "Mountain of 
Snow," are as vigorous as the zonals. 
and so are the yellow and bronze varie- 
ties, but the tricolor type are less ro- 
bust. 

When Peter Greive some forty years 
ago raised the lovely "Mrs. Pollock" it , 
was a great departure from any other 
geranium. I have seen great beds of 
it, or rather edgings of beds. It likes 
a rich soil and a slight shade. It will 
burn up and grow less in our hot suns 
with the ordinary treatment we give 
the flowering zonals. 

Mme. Salleroi is a type of itself, 
forming no stems, but a mass of short 
shoots spring from the crown and the 
plant makes a compact little clump, 
very suitable for edging. 

Propagation. 

When planting out for your own 
stock give the plants plenty of room 
to grow and do not crowd or the 
growths will be soft and unsuitable 
for cuttings. Unless the season is very 
dry geraniums seldom want water, and 
if you must water give them a thor- 
ough soaking and then hoe before the 
ground bakes. That is pretty good ad- 



vice to apply to a whole lot of things. 
Keep all flowers picked off as soon as 
they are fully developed; it will en- 
courage the plants to grow. 

About September 1st take off your 
first batch of cuttings and pot firmly 
in 2y4-inch pots. A cold-frame will do 
for the cuttings, but an ordinary bench 
is just as good and less liable to neg- 
lect. They should be shaded during 
the hottest hours of the day only, and 
that can be done with newspapers, 
which is better than any fixed shading 
because on dull days a shading would 
be injurious. 

Potting firmly with a good sifted 
loam is an important point. Don't 
thumb the top of the soil, but get 
your finger and thumb down by the 
side of the cutting like a wedge and 
make the soil around the base of the 
cutting firm. The watering will take 
care of the surface without your wast- 
ing any time with your thumbs. 

They want a good, thorough water- 
ing when first potted; after that only 
when they are decidedly on the dry 
side. There are more geraniums go 
off black and rotten through the heat 
and moisture than there are from dry- 
ness. In a month most of them will 
be rooted, and when they commence to 
make new leaves they should be stood 
over, dry leaves rubbed off and the 
surface of the soil stirred. From now 
on you will have to treat them bar- 
barously to keep them from thriving. 

Why you should wait till September 
1st or about that time before propa- 
gating is because earlier propagation 
in a hot spell in August is not safe. I 
have seen 75 per cent, of fine cuttings 
turn black in a tew days when we had 
very warm weather. Any kind that 
you were very short of can be propa- 
gated earlier, but it would be safer to 
put them in the sand. 

By taking off all the leading shoots 
thus early you will usually by middle 
of October get another good lot of cut- 
tings, which root still more certainly. 
If you don't have time for another 
batch these plants are in excellent 
shape to lift and pot and propagate 
during winter. 

Florists that grow a variety of 
plants had better do their operations 
by a system, and our system is to get 
all our geraniums propagated in the 
fall without need of lifting old plants. 
A light house should be given to gera- 
niums; it cannot be too light and dry 
and airy. A night temperature of 45 
degrees will bring them along fast 
enough. 

After our holiday trade there is room 
to spread out, and then our geraniums 
get a shift into a 3-inch pot. It is not 
much of a shift, but it makes a great 
difference to the plants. About Feb- 
ruary 1st they have made good roots 
in the new pots and then we stand 
them over, taking off all the tops that 
will make a cutting, and those that 
are not long enough we just pinch out 
the center. The cuttings from the 
tops of these 3-inch plants will root 
most easily at this time of year; pot- 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



107 




ted in 2-inch you will not lose one in 
a thousand. 

Pot Culture. 

An early Easter is always a bless- 
ing to a man who grows bedding 
plants, for just before Easter he is 
fearfully crowded and has to exercise 
all his wits to keep things from spoil- 
ing, and one of the principal crops 
that needs attention is the geraniums. 
Then they are shifted into the 4-inch 
pots, from which they are bedded out. 
The February struck plants get a 3- 
inch as soon after the others as possi- 
ble, and make good bedding plants 
that sell to late customers, and if you 
get 50 cents per dozen less than you 
do for your fine 4-inch plants they 
pay well. 

We are always successful in getting 
our geraniums in full bloom from the 
15th of May to June 1st, and believe 
that geraniums are grown nowhere 
finer and better than they are in this 
city. We believe this is largely be- 
cause we use a rather heavy loam. The 
only fertilizer is about a fifth of sifted 
hot-bed manure. In which there can 
be little ammonia, but it keeps the 



Bench of Bruant Geraniums. 

soil open. We pot firmly, as firmly 
as we can, ram the soil down with our 
fingers, and this, we believe, is an im- 
portant point in getting them to 
flower. 

If you are a market grower, and your 
customers will forget where they pur- 
chased their geraniums, you can add 
a 5-inch pot of bone flour to every 
wheelbarrow load of compost. It will 
make the geraniums jump. But if you 
fill flower beds year after year for a 
good customer, don't use the bone 
flour; there is no need of it and plants 
thus stimulated will not do so well 
when bedded out as those grown with- 
out this fertilizer. 

The treatment described above will 
do for all the geraniums of the zonal, 
rose leaf, variegated and bronze sec- 
tions. The tricolor and more slow- 
growing varieties of the variegated 
and smaller scented kinds we prefer to 
put in the sand and give them five de- 
grees more heat during winter and a 
richer and lighter compost. 

Speaking of composts, we used to 
have occasion to buy some geraniums 
to fill late orders, and the compost 
they were in looked like black rappee 



snuff, a light sand and at least half 
old rotten manure; loosely potted, 
loose at the neck, almost needing a 
stake; this is the very reverse of what 
is right. There would surely be plenty 
of leaves on such plants, but a poor 
flower, and such stuff makes poor bed- 
ding plants. 

Mme. Salleroi is so distinct in its 
habit that it would be waste of room 
to propagate it in the way we do the 
strong growing zonals. We lift be- 
fore frost as many plants from the 
ground as our needs demand and pot 
in 4 or 5-inch pots just as they are 
lifted, and store away in some light, 
cool house. In January we cut them 
up and every shoot is" a cutting which 
roots most easily in the sand. In the 
crowded state of our houses before the 
bedding out begins we put the varie- 
gated zonal, bronze, sweet scented and 
Salleroi sections into a mild hot-bed. 
Put into the beds by middle of April 
they make fine plants by bedding time. 
In these varieties it is leaf growth you 
want, and they are greatly benefited by 
the action of the ammonia on their 
leaves. 

The ivy leaf section used so largely 



108 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



in our baskets, vases and veranda 
boxes we treat entirely different. We 
leave them out of doors as long as 
safe from frost, and even if you should 
feel that a frost is coming it is no 
great job to cover them or to pull the 
plants up and take them into the shed 
to be made ready for the cutting bed 
next day. A few dozen old plants will 
give you an immense lot of cuttings 
and always put them in the sand, 
which by this time of year is probably 
a little warm with fire heat. 

We keep them in 2-inch pots till 
New Year's, then shift into a 3-inch; 
and the demand for these beautiful 
plants is so great for our veranda 
boxes that we have to shift many of 
them again into a"4-inch. Their droop- 
ing habit makes them awkward to 
grow on a bench when of any size, so 
we have to put them on 10-inch 
shelves, a row hanging over on each 
side. 

The ivy leaf section are beautiful 
plants and when their roots are con- 
fined they continue to flower a long 
time, but when planted out in good 
soil they grow so freely that blooming 
ceases. 

In winter you are seldom asked for 
geranium flowers, or not enough to 
warrant your devoting any bench room 
to them, but you are frequently called 
upon for a geranium plant in flower, 
and it is just as well to have some. 
Should you not sell them they will 
make a fine lot of cuttings in Febru- 
ary. 

Select a few hundred healthy young 
plants in May of the free blooming 
varieties and put them aside as sold. 
When the rush is over shift into 5- 
inch and grow along in a light house, 
with the pots plunged in some materi- 
al to keep them from continually dry- 
ing out; here is where the portable 
shading would come in so good. A 
cold-frame would do as well with the 
glass tilted up back and front, and 
then you can shade from 10 till 4 
o'clock. 

Keep the buds always picked off 
these geraniums during summer, and 
in August, if they are worth it, shift 
again, into a 6-inch pot. If you allow 
the buds to come up after middle of 
September you will have some very 
cheerful, bright plants that are very 
attractive. These plants if wanted to 
flower freely should have a night tem- 
perature of 55 degrees, and the light- 
est bench you have. 

There is a lesson to be observed 
about these common geraniums. If 
we give them more than 45 degrees at 
night and 55 to 60 degrees at day with 
our imperfect light and want of venti- 
lation, for we can only give air to a 
limited extent, the plants will run up 
to leggy, useless plants, but out of 
doors in a night temperature of 70, 
and during the day perhaps to 90 de- 
grees, they do not run up, they grow 
into sturdy, stout plants. So the nearer 
we can come to perfect light and air 
with those plants (roses, carnations, 
etc.) that we ask to flower in the 



winter instead of resting, the greater 
success we shall have. 

There are scarcely any insects that 
trouble geraniums, and it is a great 
thing in their favor. Tobacco smoke 
does not hurt any of them and only 
the scented leaved section is ever 
troubled with aphis. Too close prox- 
imity to hot water pipes will some- 
times produce red spider, but that 
should not occur. It is a great treat 
to me to water a batch of geraniums 
that are on the dry side, and they 
should be allowed to get so. Then 
they seem to relish the soaking they 
get. 

Specialists who grow to supply the 
trade with young stock propagate 
from stock plants the season through 
if possible, but their stock is not what 
we want to make our fine bedding 
plants. However, it is on such men as 
C. W. Ward, of The Cottage Gardens, 
and E. G. Hill & Co., of Richmond, 
Ind., that we must rely for new varie- 
ties, for these gentlemen import at 
great expense all the new varieties, 
many of which, perhaps, they do not 
deem worthy of sending out to the flor- 
ist who deals directly with the public. 

It would be useless to publish a list 
of varieties as sorts wear out and new 
ones are constantly taking their places. 
Neither am I acquainted with a long 
list of varieties. It is very unwise to 
grow a great variety. A dozen of the 
best semi-doubles, half a dozen single, 
half a dozen of the ivy leaf section, 
and a few of the standard variegated 
and bronze, will fill the bill for the 
man who has flower beds to fill. Last 
year the demand for geraniums was 
larger than ever and although we had 
double the quantity of S. A. Nutt over 
any other, we were sold out of it long 
before the rest, showing that you want 
a large quantity of the very few lead- 
ing varieties, and proportionately 
smaller quantities of the rest. We find 
at present that the following sorts suit 
our business best: 

Semi-Double Zonal Varieties. 

S. A. Nutt: Crimson. 

Alphonse Riccard: Orange scarlet. 

J. J. Harrison: Fine scarlet. 

W. P. Simmons: Orange scaidet. 

Tower Eiffel: Bright scarlet. 

Beaute Poitevine: Clear salmon. 

Emile de Girardin: Fine pink. 

Francis Perkins: Clear pure pink; 
the best pink we know; grand habit. 

Prokop Daubeck: Light scarlet; 
best variety for vases. 

Ernest Lauth: Rich shade of red; 
extra good. 

La Favorite: Pure white. 

Single Zonals. 

Queen of the West: Fine red. 

Athlete: Bright scarlet. 

General Grant: Bright scarlet; one 
of the very best for large beds. 

Mrs. E. G. Hill: Salmon; a grand 
truss. 

Rev. W. Atkinson: Deep, bright 
scarlet. 

Mme. Lavalle: Rosy salmon. 



John Salter: White and light sal- 
mon. 

J. P. Cleary: Vivid dark scarlet; 
one of the best bedding geraniums. 

Mrs. A. Blanc: Magnificent variety; 
shaded apricot red. 

Ivy Geraniums. 

Souv. de Charles Turner: Deep 
pink; fine grower. 

Jeanne d'Arc: Fine double white. 

Pere Crozy: Scarlet; erect in habit. 

Then we have a double as well as 
semi-double pale pink, most useful. 

Scented Geraniums. 

Rose Leaf: Indispensable for cut- 
ting. 

Lady Plymouth: Variegated rose 
leaf, and a few each of the nutmeg and 
lemon scented. 

Variegated, Bronze and Tricolor. 

Mountain of Snow: Pure white and 
green leaf; a most desirable plant. 

Mme. Salleroi: Compact variegated 
plant; excellent for an edging. 

Happy Thought: Very attractive; 
dark green, white center. 

Mrs. Parker: Variegated foliage; 
double pink flower. 

Marshal McMahon: Fine bronze, 
with distinct dark zone. 

Golden Bedder; Rich, golden leaved. 

Mrs. Pollock: Beautiful tricolor leaf; 
best of its class. 

Dwarf Geraniums. 

We have in Mars a distinct type of 
geranium, very dwarf and compact, 
the flowers of a pleasing salmon shade. 
It makes a very neat pot plant, or edg- 
ing to a flower bed, and is a wonder- 
fully free bloomer. 

It costs little to try a few of any of 
the newer varieties sent out by reliable 
houses, and if they do well in your 
soil and locality increase your stock. 
There was a time, about twenty years 
ago, when the writer could pick out 
forty varieties of double and single 
zonal geraniums by their leaves. Any- 
one can do it by the flower, but the 
leaf is different. Times have changed, 
and although we can pick out many 
other things now, we have lost track 
of the varieties of geraniums, but I 
trust not how to grow them with profit 



THE COTTAGE GARDENS, 

QUEENS, N. Y. 

Carry a full line of all the latest 

....NOVELTIES.... 

as well as the best standard 



varieties of 



Geraniums. 

We have 15,000 feet of glass devoted ex- 
clusively to geranium culture, and carry 
the largest and most select line of gera- 
niums in America. 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



109 




Well Bloomed Dwarf Geranium. 



to ourselves and pleasure to our cus- 
tomers. 

This would be a good place to say- 
something about a geranium cutting. 
It is remarkable to see the poor judg- 
ment (or is it carelessness?) of some 
men in such a simple thing as making 
cuttings. We have been told that cut- 
ting at a joint was not at all essential; 
don't believe it. Cuttings will root, of 
many kinds of plants, an inch below a 
joint, but not as surely. At a joint is 
where the wood is most firm, and it 
you left a piece of sappy, succulent 
stem an inch long below a joint it is 
more likely to get overcharged with 
moisture, the walls of the cells are 
ruptured, decay commences and the 
stem turns black. It cut at a joint 
this is not so likely to occur. When I 
say at a joint I mean an eighth to a 
fourth of an inch below. 

Then again you will see men denude 
.a cutting of all the leaves except the 
small, undeveloped ones, and others 
will leave three or four large leaves, 
«o that if put into the sand or potted 
they would be just a mass of leaves un- 
less you placed them far apart. These 
mistakes are not always by the boys 
or beginners, but by men who ought to 
know better. It is carelessness, want 
of brains and want of thought. 

Now, this pleasant little operation of 
making cuttings should go quickly. 
They should pass through your hands 
as quickly as the half-dollars drop into 
the ticket office of Forepaugh's circus, 
but be properly done, withal. The 
cutting exists largely on what the leaf 
absorbs from the atmosphere and sends 
down material to form the root. (These 
remarks of course apply to soft- 
wooded cuttings that are iji active 



growth.) So do not pull off all the 
geranium leaves. Leave one perfect 
leaf and one half developed; that will 
allow you to stand the small pots close 
together. 

If it was any sacrifice of material to 
cut just below a joint there would be 
some reason for not doing it, but there 
is none. Neither the piece above the 
joint you leave on the parent plant or 
the piece you leave below the joint of 
the cutting is any good, and whoever 
thinks it takes longer to cut in the 
proper place is mistaken; a practiced 
eye and hand fixes on the proper spot 
in a moment. 

We are well aware that tea roses 
root very well an inch or two below a 
joint, but no better, and they are hard- 
ly soft-wooded plants. 

While I have stated just how I 
would trim a geranium cutting, that is 
no guide to the hundreds of other soft- 
wooded plants we grow. With many 
of the smaller leaved kinds a number 
of leaves can be left on, perhaps the 
more the better for the rooting pro- 
cess, but if too many leaves were al- 
lowed you would soon fill up your 
propagating bed, and to crowd the 
cuttings, covering the sand densely, is 
just the way to produce fungus on the 
surface of the sand, which is a calam- 
ity and often results in serious loss. 

With the great majority of the soft- 
wooded plants we propagate during 
winter and spring. The heliotrope, 
ageratum, fuchsia, etc., the verbena, 
for example, root quicker and surer 
when the cutting is quick grown, suc- 
culent and brittle. I have endeavored 
to mention the condition of cutting 
best suited for propagation with every 



plant for which I have given cultural 
directions. 

GLADIOLUS. 

The varieties we grow are hybrids 
from some of the many species of 
which the large genus is composed. 
The handsome spikes of the gladiolus 
are known to all, and for the flower 
border the gladiolus is one of the most 
handsome of summer flowers, but 
grown with such ease by everyone that 
the price of the spikes is now very 
low. 

They can be readily raised from seed 
and will flower the second year. That, 
of course, is the only way to produce 
varieties, of which now there are le- 
gions. 

They are often grown by florists on 
their benches among other crops to 
produce flowers in May and June be- 
fore those outside are in bloom. They 
will not flower, however, till we get 
the warm days of spring, and no mat- 
ter how early you may plant the bulbs 
they will in a carnation temperature 
grow very slowly. I have never seen 
that they injured the carnations if not 
put in too thickly. 

Plant the bulb on the bench in Feb- 
ruary among the carnations by just 
squeezing it into the soil. It needs no 
covering and the watering you give the 
carnations will suit the gladiolus. A 
rose bench would suit them much bet- 
ter, but it would be hardly fair to the 
roses. 

Out of doors the cultivation is very 
simple. The better the ground the finer 
the spikes, and in very dry weath- 
er they should get an occasional soak- 
ing with water. Very large growers 
must necessarily use only plow and 
cultivator. The commercial man 
should plant the corms (for they are 
not bulbs at all) in rows two feet apart, 
so that the horse cultivator can be 
run between them, and six to eight 
inches in the rows. Five to six inches 
deep is about right. When as deep as 
that they are not in our dry summers 
so likely to suffer for want of water. 

The corms increase rapidly and you 
will frequently find two fine ones in 
place of the old one planted in the 
spring. If a succession of flowers is 
desired, make plantings at intervals of 
two weeks, but remember that you will 
get no more flowers after the first 
frost. Before there is any danger of 
frost reaching the bulb, dig them up 
and let them lie in the sun for a day 
or two with the tops cut off a foot or 
so above the corms. When the stalk 
is dry cut it off within an inch of the 
corm, and if they are not wet with 
.'ain or dew store them away in flat 
trays anywhere out of the reach of 
frost. 

Any place that will keep potatoes 
will keep gladiolus bulbs. There is us- 
ually such a place in the greenhouse 
sheds. They are the easiest possible 
bulbs to keep; only keep them from 
frost. We once had a lot dug up and 
lying on the groung to ripen the tops 
when over night down came a frost, 
about three degrees. I thought our 



no 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



gladiolus had escaped, but every bulb 
was destroyed. 

The white and light varieties are 
much the most valuable to the florist. 
There are now pure white varieties 
and of every other conceivalile shade 
except blue. In buying bulbs remem- 
ber that 7.5 per cent should be white 
or very light shades. 

It is impossible to give a list of 
names. There are too many, and few 
Horists grow them under name. The 
Lemoine strain are very handsome and 
distinct and differ from the ordinary 
gladiolus by being finely spotted and 
marked, and some of them have fine 
shades of orange and yellow. 

GLAZING. 

A most important part of green- 
house construction. Poor putty, if the 
glass is lapped and poorly laid, is a 
source of constant annoyance, waste 
of coal and injury to the plants. When 
the glass is butted, unless the house is 
well and truly built, it will be a botch 
and failure and will bring censure on 
this excellent method, which under 
most circumstances is the way to glaze 
a commercial house. Some critics may 
say if good for the commercial man 
why not for all glass structures? The 
lapped method is more expensive, but 
if well and properly laid is undoubted- 
ly a good job, but the butted plan is 
quicker to lay, easier to repair, much 
less expensive, and if you ever want to 
alter or move your houses or wish to 
remove the glass you can do so with 
perfect ease. As to tightness for mak- 
ing a warm house both methods when 
thoroughly done will do that, with a 
preference toward the butted system. 

Lapped or Puttied. 

Where the modern iron frame houses 
are built the bar used is usually very 
light, but well supported by a num- 
ber of purlins. On these houses the 
glass is usually lapped and there are 
only one or two points to observe. The 
putty should be of good quality and to 
it should be added one-fifth of white 
lead. The glass should be pressed down 
till the putty is spread out evenly and 
over the entire surface of the shoul- 
der of the bar; this will save much 
labor when you take off the back put- 
ty, as there will be no holes to fill up. 

In old style glazing you saw laps of 
all sizes from a sixteenth of an inch to 
one inch. The longer the lap the 
more place for dust and dirt to lodge 
with no means or chance to clean it 
out, so you have a dark strip across at 
the junction of every light. One-eighth 
of an inch is the ideal length of a lap 
for any size glass and it makes just as 
warm a house as a lap of two inches. 

The best thing I have found to hold 
the glass down as well as to hold it 
from slipT)ing down is the Van Reyper 
glazing point. It is a small double 
staple which has a shoulder in the top 
or end that both holds down the glass 
and at the same time prevents its slip- 
ping. 

Houses that are glazed with putty 
should have a coat of paint after the 
glass is in, regardless of how many 



coats the bars have had before they 
were put up. One-eighth of an inch is 
usually allowed between the bars; this 
allows only one-sixteenth of an inch 
on each side between the glass and the 
wood. 

Butted Glass. 

The unfavorable reports and con- 
demnation of this system are largely 
from two sources, mostly by men who 
never tried in the right way, or per- 
haps tried it on an old house that was 
formerly glazed with putty, and the 
other people whose houses were not 
built correct enough and made straight 
and true. Square cut glass will not fit 
crooked, plate and bars. 

In the first place you must use the 
cypress cap and bar that is especially 
made for the purpose and your bars 
must be put on true and parallel. One- 
sixteenth of an inch is all you want 
for play between bars. It should be 
just that and nothing more or less; 
this is very particular. Some carpen- 
ters mark out on the ridge and plate 
the place for the bars, others will cut 
a strip of hardwood, one to be used at 
ridge and one at plate. If the strip is 
one-sixteenth inch longer than width 
of glass and the bar is nailed up to the 
stick carefully every time, top and 
bottom, you can't go very far wrong; 
yet every ten bars or so you should 
prove by a rod that you are keeping 
the bar at top and bottom parallel. 
You can make up any discrepancy with 
putty. Putty, like charity, covers a 
multitude of sins. With butted glass 
you must be correct, and it is just as 
easy to be so. 

Don't trust to any carpenter, ho^v- 
ever many houses he has built; prove 
for yourself that he is right. When 
the bar is nailed to the plate see that 
the face of the bar on which the glass 
rests and the slope of the plate are ex- 
actly flush. If the bar is a trifle below 
the plate it is ditflcult to remedy. If 
it is a trifle above it can easily be 
taken off with a chisel. The bar can 
always be straightened on the purlin 
when you lay the glass, or straightened 
by a straight-edge and fastened in 
place before you begin to lay the glass. 

The glass should not be lapped on 
the plate more than half an inch; the 
less glass there is resting on the wood 
the less likelihood of breakage by ice. 
The glass should always without fail 
be laid with the rounding part up; all 
glass is more or less convex and con- 
cave. The thin edge of the glass (if 
there is a choice) should always lead 
up the bar. If you were to put the 
thick edge up and it butted against a 
thin one there would be a small space 
for the water to lodge. The man who 
lays the glass, if he has any brains at 
all, will be able tO' see these points at 
a glance and lay it about as quick as 
a boy can hand it to him. Remember 
that is all he has to do; there Is no 
putty and no brads, no squeezing and 
thumbing, no squinting and swearing, 
it is only to lay the glass in, and bo 
you go on to the top. 

In laying out the length of the bar 
we try to make it so that a certain 



number of lights just fill up from 
plate to ridge. If that is not conve- 
nient you can always make it so that 
a half light will finish at the top. 
When you know exactly what sized 
fraction of a light you need (if any) 
you will have them all cut ready; it 
is just as well to use the small piece 
at the bottom. 

Before we lay any glass we drive in 
two wire six-penny nails, half an inch 
below edge of plate, but only drive 
them in a small depth, just enough to 
hold the lights while you are laying 
them. This can be done before you be- 
gin to glaze and by a man standing on 
the ground. When the whole run of 
glass is in and before you screw down 
the cap the man nearest the bottom, 
with the end of his chisel handle, gives 
the glass a good push up. closing up 
any space, however small, and then 
drives in his bottom nails. They should 
be driven close down to the glass or 
they will impede snow and ice slipping 
off. Now this effectually prevents the 
glass from slipping, and if the bottom 
light does not how can the others? 

One inch round-headed screws are 
used to screw down the cap, the first 
screw two inches from the bottom and 
one exactly at every joint or butt. A 
boy can get these caps ready because 
you will have one cap as a pattern, and 
with a ratchet drill the caps can be 
ready with the screws already lightly 
tapped in, and when the two men lay- 
ing the glass call for the cap up it goes 
and the men who have ratchet screw- 
drivers soon have the screws down in 
their place. Don't screw down too 
tightly, just firm and solid is enough. 
You will, of course, need one screw 
within an inch or so of the ridge. 

Be sure to have the ventilators made 
the same way with cap and bar, and to 
take the same size glass. Have but 
one size glass on the place if possible, 
and as little cutting as possible. I do 
not like to disparage any device that 
is made and sent abroad in good faith 
by a fellow florist, but in, justice to 
those who will follow my advice I 
must candidly say the zinc strips that 
are made to go between glass when 
butted are a miserable failure and a 
nuisance. You want nothing between 
them or under them; simply the cap. 

Any size glass can be butted. We 



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PHILADELPHia, 
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THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



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have it on 12, 14 and 16 inch square 
and always double thick. We prefer to 
use glass that is square, that is, 14x14 
or 16x16. Then you have the choice of 
two edges, and if one is a little rough 
you can use the other. If glass is laid 
as described above it will save you 
many dollars. It is a smooth, fine 
roof, more air tight than lapped glass. 
The drip is nothing, absolutely noth- 
ing, if well and properly laid; if there 
should be a trifle it is always at the 
bottom, which in commercial houses 
would fall in the path. And if a little 
dust creeps in, and it will creep in 
where water- won't, it can be washed 
annually as clean as the day you put 
it up. 

Fancy the luxury of painting such a 
house. Remove the glass, thoroughly 
paint and relay again. If you were 
visited by a hailstorm you have only 
to break out the shattered lights, shove 
up the sound, and before night you are 
whole. 

Without considering these contin- 
gencies, it is the ideal way for a com- 
mercial man to build. I have ten 
houses glazed with butted glass. I 
had no one to tell me how, but I per- 
severed, and when I had built five or 
six I had it down fine and have given 
you the mature fruits of my experi- 
ence. 

GLECHOMA (NEPETA GLECHOMA). 

The species that is useful to the 
^lorist is called by many names. 
'Ground Ivy" is one. and the Germans 
apply the elegant name of "Louse 
Krout." The variegated form of this 
little weed is one of our best basket 
plants. It starts to grow so well and 
makes such a fine appearance in a 
vase or basket that, weed as it may be, 
it is well worth growing. 

The ends of the growths, a few 
inches long, should be put Into 2-lnch 
pots in September, three or four in 
each pot, and placed in a cold-frame. 
Kept shaded and moist they will soon 
be rooted, and then the glass should 
be removed till severe weather arrives, 
■when the glass should again go on. 
Leave them in the frame till end of 
March, when they should be got out 
and shifted into 3-inch pots and start- 
;d growing in the greenhouse. We 
place them along the edges of benches 
or shelves where their quick growing 
shoots can hang down. 

Few plants will make such a veil of 
growth to cover the woodwork of our 
rustic baskets or the moss of our hang- 
ing baskets as this little "creeping 
Jenny," but do not attempt to keep it 
in the greenhouse all winter or it will 
be useless. 

GLOXINIA, 

These tropical American plants are 
well adapted to house culture. I have 
seen plants with fifteen perfect flowers 
in the window of a humble cottage. 
We seldom get complaints about their 
failure. They are essentially summer 
flowering. 

Gloxinias are raised in large quanti- 
ties from seed by specialists, but the 



florist who grows only a few hundred 
ivill do much better to obtain his sup- 
ply of corms (usually called bulbs) 
from some firm that raises them in 
large quantities. The price of the 
bulbs is now very low. Seed is usually 
sown in February. Sow on a wet sur- 
face and don't cover the seed; it is too 
small. Cover the pan with a light of 
glass till the seeds are up. A warm 
house is needed and the pans should 
be kept away from the direct rays of 
the sun. 

As soon as the seedlings can be 
handled, transplant them two inches 
apart in flats in two or three inches 
of loam and leaf-mould. In June plant 
them in four inches of soil in a cold- 
frame, or better still, a hot-bed that 
has lost its violent heat. When grow- 



in the morning. I have had the best 
success with gloxinias when the 
plants stood on inverted 5 or 6-inch 
pots on the bench; you can syringe 
the under side of the leaves better and 
the plants seem to thrive much better 
with the increased circulation of the 
air they get in this position. 

Shading is the most particular part 
of their cultivation. They don't like 
the dense shade that whitewash af- 
fords, neither do they want the bright 
sun, or their beautiful flowers will wilt 
and droop. A light shade, or best of 
all, one that could be applied only in 
the hottest hours, would be ideal. 
Never let them get dry or you will 
lose their flowers. This is a plant 
that in watering I should resort to 
the old watering pot, unless you have 




Gloxinias. 



ing they like plenty of water and 
should be shaded on all bright days. 
Many of these seedlings will flower 
the same summer and will make good 
bulbs for growing in pots the next 
season. 

In September water should be grad- 
ually withhheld till the foliage has 
dried up, when the bulbs should be 
lifted and stored away in dry sand or 
soil during winter. As previously said, 
for a few hundred you cannot begin to 
raise seedlings at the price you can 
buy good flowering bulbs from the spe- 
cialist. 

February to March is the best time 
to start the bulbs. We put them first 
in 4-inch pots, just covering the bulbs. 
One watering is suflicient till the 
leaves begin to start. A good loam 
with a third of its bulk composed of 
leaf-mould and well rotted cow ma- 
nure will grow them finely. The house 
you start them in should not be less 
at night than 60 degrees, but as the 
season advances they delight in our 
warmest weather. When the leaves 
extend over the pots they should be 
shifted into their flowering pot, a 
6-inch, and well drained. 

Gloxinias really want a warm, moist 
temperature without any water ly- 
ing on their leaves, although before 
flowering they should be daily 
syringed, which should always be done 



a very slow stream running from the 
hose and your mind intently on your 
work. 

The fine leaves of the gloxinia are 
very brittle and easily broken, and 
when shifting or handling must re- 
ceive good care or your plant will be 
spoiled. ■ 

When out of flower, if you wish to 
keep over the old corms, lay the pots 
on their side under a warm, dry bench 
and leave them undisturbed till you 
want to shake them out and start 
again in the spring. 

There are now grand strains of most 
beautiful rich shades of color and the 
upright or erect flowering are the best. 

GRASSES. 

Several grasses should be promi- 
nent in all mixed borders of hardy 
plants, or make beautiful clumps on 
the lawn, either singly or in groups. 
They will thrive in any ordinarily 
good soil and those named are perfect- 
ly hardy. They are propagated by di- 
vision and rapidly increase in size. 

The finest and most ornamental of 
all, the Pampas grass, is unfortunately 
not hardy enough to withstand our 
northern winters. Where the tempera- 
ture does not drop more than 15 de- 
grees below the freezing point it will 
do finely. The Pampas grass (Gyne- 
rium argenteum) is a native of the Ax- 



112 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 




Border of Pennisetum Longistylum around a bed of Cannas. 



gentines and temperate South Amer- 
ica, thriving grandly in California, 
from whence we get our plumes. It 
seems as though with the protection of 
a stout box filled in with dry leaves 
and with a movable cover, this orna- 
mental plant could be wintered safely, 
and in the decoration of fine grounds 
well repay the labor. We assuredly 
go to greater expense in preserving 
some plants that are not of so much 
value. 

Arundo Donax: This is the noblest 
of the hardy grasses, growing in one 
summer eight to ten feet in height. It 
needs no protection. In the . spring 
cut off close to the ground the last 
year's canes and mulch with a few 
inches of manure. 

A. Donax versicolor or variegata is 
not quite so hardy, but is much more 
ornamental. It should be protected in 
the winter months with a covering of 
six inches of litter over the crowns. 
It is identical in every respect with 
the type except that its leaves are 
beautifully variegated. 

Eulalias are the most useful grasses 
and are so hardy they need no pro- 
tection. The tops are usually left 
standing during winter and removed 
by cutting or burning off in the spring. 

Eulalia japonica: The flower is or- 
namental but it is the long, narrow, 
4-foot leaves that make this grass 
such an acquisition to the garden. 

E. j. zebrina: The leaves are very 
handsome, having bars of yellow 
across them. 

E. j. foliis striatis: In this sort the 
creamy band runs lengthwise of the 
leaf. 

E- }. gracillima univittata: Thig is 



the narrowest leaved and most grace- 
ful of all, but not such a robust grower 
as the others, and is more suitable for 
a choice place in the border than to 
form a mass on the lawn. 

Erianthus Ravennae: This might 
be called a small Pampas grass, throw- 
ing up handsome plumes. It is quite 
hardy. 

Arundinaria tecla: A very orna- 
mental grass, but should be planted in 
moist ground or given water very 
freely. It does well on the margins of 
lakes. 

Pennisetum japonicum: Well worthy 
a place in the mixed border and per- 
fectly hardy. 

Pennisetum longistylum: This pret- 
ty plumed grass is very effectively 
used in bedding. It can be grown 
from seed, but is usually propagated 
by division. Take up several clumps 
in the fall, trim off the foliage, place 
in a box and set under a bench in a 
house with a temperature of 40 to 4.5 
degrees. In March shake out the soil, 
tear the clump to pieces and pot two 
or three runners in a 3 or 4-inch pot. 
Place in a house with a temperature 
of 60 degrees. They make plants in a 
short time and may be bedded out the 
latter part of May or early in June. 
The accompanying engraving shows a 
border of this pennisetum around a 
bed of cannas. 

GREENHOUSE BUILDING. 

In step with the growth of our busi- 
ness, the demand for flowers and their 
rapid production, and the high quality 
now demanded, the science of building 
our greenhouse structures has kept 
well to the front. When we see the old 



dark structures of twenty-five years 
ago, with their heavy wood work, 8x10 
glass, and 4-inch cast iron pipe, we 
feel a chill, especially it we own them. 
We believe it would be almost impos- 
sible to produce the roses and carna- 
tions of to-day in the quantity and 
quality they are, had not our flower 
growers the modern houses of to-day. 

Houses for the private establishment 
I shall not mention. They can be built 
with all the ornamentation as well as 
substantial and u.seful appointments 
that the owner desires, and should be 
always in keeping with the grounds 
and mansion with which they are as- 
sociated. I will say this much: That 
whenever a range of glass is to be 
erected, let it be a costly and extensive 
range or but one small conservatory, 
it is far cheaper in the end and a hun- 
dred times more satisfactory, to have 
them built by horticultural builders, 
whose specialty it is, and who have 
made a life study of the business, con- 
stantly devising new and better meth- 
ods, employing expert workmen, who 
know accurately every detail of the 
structure. 

Building a greenhouse or conserva- 
tory is as distinct a business from the 
ordinary house building as is ship 
building, and the local carpenter, glaz- 
er and steam fitter are the most unfit 
people to employ. I have had local 
painters put a piece of tin against the 
bar when painting the roof, "to keep 
the paint off of the glass," thereby 
entirely neglecting the one important 
place for paint, the space between the 
glass and wood occupied with putty. 
The local steam fitter is learning some 
thing about steam, but his knowledge 



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The FLORISTS' Manual. 



of hot water circulation is yet awfully 
crude, and the carpenter, who is per- 
haps capable of building a winding 
stair case, is a failure at greenhouse 
building unless you are able to tell 
him "just how you want it." So the 
amateur or man of wealth should al- 
ways employ one of those firms who 
make a business of glass structures. 
Perhaps there are many such firms. 
Of my acquaintances, who are masters 
of their business as well as honorable 
men- that are bound to perform all they 
agree, there are Lord & Burnham Co., 
of Irvington-on-the-Hudson, N. Y.; 
Hitchings & Co., and Thomas W. 
Weathered's Sons, of New York. All 
of these firms are constantly building, 
not only private establishments, but 
commercial houses all over the coun- 
try. 

Shape and Aspect. 

Plant houses, i. e., houses for raising 
palms, pandanus or ferns, or fiowering 
lilies and azaleas, or growing the bulk 
of our bedding plants, in fact for any 
purpose except for roses and carna- 
tions, can run north and south. A 
house with its ridge running north and 
south with good sized glass will give 
you all the light that these plants 
need, and in the summer when too 
much sun is the trouble they are not 
so hot. 

There is no doubt that houses that 
are built communicating, or simp'.y a 
partition wall between them, are a 
great saving in fuel, and in latitudes 
where we get great snows, and often 
weeks of zero weather, it is most ad- 
visable that blocks of houses be built 
together with only two outside walls 
providing you are sure you will not 
want to change your business and con- 
vert them into rose or carnation hous- 
es; for this purpose they would be 
very unsuitable. 

The conventional house of this kind 
IS usually 20 ft. wide, with a middle 
bench of 6 ft. 6 in., and two side 
benches of 3 ft. 6in, each, allowing 2 
ft. for each path and keeping the 
benches away from posts 2 or 3 inches 
on each side to avoid any drip on the 
plants. Whenever I speak of the width 
of a house as 20 or 22 ft.. I always 
mean the dimensions to be from out- 
side to outside of posts if detached or 
from center to center of posts if 'at- 
tached. For the general run of our 
plant houses the top of the posts from 
outside grade of ground is usually for 
these equal span houses 4 ft 6 in 
with the plate on top of post and the 
bar about 11 ft. 6 in.; this gives you 
nice head room for the paths. 

The middle bench is used for tall 
growmg plants and the side benches 
for the dwarfer ones. Often the space 
that would be occupied by the bench 
IS used by standing the plants on the 
floor or planting them out, as you do 
with smilax, etc. If tour or five houses 
are used for the same kind of plants, 
for instance chrysanthemums, ferns! 
lilies, then geraniums, or maybe all 
palms, then there is no need of a par- 
tition wall, but unless you are in a 
big way of business you will find it 



much safer to have a partition between 
them. You so often want to keep one 
house a little warmer or cooler than 
others, or in fumigating you may find 
it very inconvenient to have to fill 
the whole lot with smoke when there 
were plants in some that you did not 
want to smoke. 

Another style of house for general 
plant growing that is, I think, more 
economical to build and easier to work, 
is one of 22 ft. This will allow an 
IS-inch path against each wall, three 
benches a little short of 5 ft. 6 in. 
each and two more paths of 1 ft. 6in. 
each. The heating would be but a 
trifle more, the first cost of glass and 
bars but a fraction, and the walls and 
the gutters no' more. In these houses 
the heating pipes, whether of steam or 
hot water, are against the walls, 
away from the plants, where there is 
no danger of encouraging red spider. 
Where the houses are built in this 
way the posts should be 5 ft., so as to 
give head room in the outside paths. 
The henches in these houses could be 
any height to suit your plants. 

Benches. 

I will say here about benches, that 
it is often thought necessary to raise 
them up, sometimes to an awkward 
height, with the view of getting more 
light. "Keep plants near the glass," 
is an old maxim oft repeated. What is 
intended by this advice is give them 
light. In our modern houses where 
the glass is never less than 12 inches 
wide, and the light is unobstructed, 
the plants receive as much light eight 
feet from the glass as they do two feet 
from it. Years ago violets were always 
grown in a pit near the glass. They 
are gi-own as well today 10 feet from 
the glass. 

Board benches are continually wear- 
ing out; even if made of 2-inch plank 
their life is short. For roses and car- 
nations there is perhaps no substitute 
for wood as when their roots touch the 
moist wood it is congenial to them, 
which slate and cement are not, but 
plants in pots are quite different, as 
they are seldom stood on the bare 
boards but usually stand on a layer of 
ashes or sand. Heavy slate is too ex- 
pensive for the commercial man and 
roofing slate would need so much sup- 
porting. 

We saw at the South Park, Chicago, 
an excellent device for the plant ta- 
bles, the invention of Mr. Kanst, we 
think. The frame of the tables was 
angle and T iron. For the floor of the 
bench he had a composition flagging. 
They were about two feet square and 
if I remember correctly one inch thick. 
It is obvious they could be made any 
reasonable length and breadth, and 
thicker if desired. It would be only a 
matter of making a mould. A frame of 
inch strips of wood was made, or a 
number of them, the frames were set 
on a surface of boards and a mixture 
of fine gravel and cement thrown 
in and struck oft with a straight-edge. 
After the concrete, as we will call it. 
bad set. which cement quickly does, 
the frame and bottom boards were re- 



moved. I am not certain that I am 
exactly clear how the boards and 
frame were removed, but that is a tri- 
fling part of it, and will quickly occur 
to any ingenious workman. 

When dry there was a lot of ever- 
lasting material for the plant tables, 
and as most of the tables were so con- 
structed with the iron supports and 
concrete flooring they were practically 
indestructible. And to show us that 
a large plant would not break these 
slabs of cement and gravel Mr. Kanst 
jumped on the middle of one about two 
feet square and gave us one step of 
the Highland fling. These tables can- 
not be expensive and where the mate- 
rial is near by cannot exceed the cost 
of a 2-inch plank of pine or hemlock, 
and would in ten years be much the 
cheapest. 

Often, though, we have not the time 
to do these things and turn to the 
readiest and quickest methods, so we 
resort to the same old boards. The 
uprights should be 2x6 and the cross 
pieces of the same (Timensions. I think 
it cheaper in the end to use for the 
surface of the table 2-inch plank. The 
pulling out and rebuilding is half the 
cost, and that you certainly save. We 
mix up a pail of hydraulic cement, 
which with us is called water lime, 
and with a whitewash brush give the 
top of planks or boards a thorough 
coat of the cement, and on top of the 
cross pieces and top of uprights, in 
fact wherever wood is laid on wood, 
for that is where we find decay first 
begins. 

Wooden benches are supported on 
iron frames made of gas pipe. They 
are most easily put up, look neat and 
are of course long lasting. It would 
take too long to describe here, and 
unnecessary, as you have only to send 
to the .lennings Bros., Olney. Philadel- 
phia, for their illustrated circular 
which shows you the whole thing. 

Where the bench is not over eigh- 
teen inches from the ground we believe 
the bench should be solid, that is walls 
built up with 4-inch brick walls laid in 
cement or concrete walls, and filled 
in with stones or ashes, and surfaced 
with any material you choose. It is 
easier for the workman to handle the 
plants when the benches are about 
three feet high, but no better for the 
plants, and saves much repairing and 
"fixing" of benches; and what a fine 
bench for palms, azaleas, lilies and 
later for cannas, in fact for anything. 

Ventilation. 

The ventilation of these houses, or 
any house, should be ample always. 
You may not need it except in sum- 
mer, but you want the means for the 
largest amount of ventilation that is 
of benefit to the plants in the hottest 
weather. Our prevailing winds are 
from the west, and a large proportion 
of the country is the same. So we 
ventilate on the east side. There is 
also another advantage in ventilating 
on the east side. In February and 
March particularly, the thermometer 
may indicate 15 degrees of frost, yet 
the sun be very bright, compelling us 



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116 

to put on a crack of air by 9 or 10 
o'clock. The ventilators, if on the 
west side, would be frozen and could 
be lifted only with great trouble, while 
the sun has thawed the ice on the east 
side. We do not think that ventilation 
on both sides is necessary if ample is 
given on the east side. 

The dimensions for ventilators on a 
20 or 22-foot house should be 2 ft. 6 in. 
deep from ridge to bottom of ventila- 
tor, and continuous the whole way 
along the roof. It is plain to everyone 
that a 3-inch opening the whole way is 
far better than a 6-inch opening for the 
length of four feet and then a space 
of five or six feet with no opening. We 
have seen some very clearly defined 
cases of failure of late that were un- 
mistakably traceable to very inade- 
quate ventilation. It costs no more in 
glass and little more for the machines 
that operate the sash. 

In rose houses the best method is 
doubtless that where the ventilator 
opens at the ridge, and with plants of 
a tropical nature, like our palms, dra- 
caenas, orchids, ferns, etc., it must 
also be the best system. For carnations 
and the more cold blooded plants, such 
as azaleas, lilies, and our geraniums, 
the ventilators hinged at the ridge will 
do, but if all the ventilators open at 
the ridge for every house you won't 
be far wrong. 

I cannot see any use in cutting off 
the bars where the headers go in for 
the ventilators to be hinged on or it 
may be close, on. Let all the bars run 
up to the ridge: you will get as much 
ventilation, the bars will be stronger, 
you will have a straighter roof, and 
the labor is only a trifle more, if any. 

Usually these plant houses lead 
out from a continuous shed, which is 
of course on the north end of them, so 
that there is not a square foot of bench 
room that has not the full light; more 
particularly is this true of the 22-ft. 
houses, where the benches are removed 
from the walls. 

Where several of these houses are 
built parallel and attached, only the 
two outside ones can spread, and this 
brings us to the question of 

Posts. 

Some men with sufficient capital can 
afford to build brick walls on stone 
foundations, and when the stone work 
is 2 ft. 6 in. or 3 ft. in the ground and 
dry work to near the surface of the 
ground it makes an excellent drain, 
keeping the surface of the house dry, 
which is an excellent state of affairs. I 
doubt whether an 8-inch brick wall 
i.s much warmer than two thicknesses 
of boards, and a 12-inch wall is quite 
expensive. However, with those that 
can afford it it is certainly to be com- 
mended. Wooden posts will for a long 
time be used, and if of the right mate- 
rial outlast any other portion of the 
house. 

Locust is the nearest to cast iron of 
any wood we know of, but good locust 
posts are difficult to obtain and very 
hard to work. Red cedar is most dur- 
able, light to handle and easy and 
pleasant to work. Next in quality 



T.^-iE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



comes cypress, which, when of good 
quality will last in the ground many 
years, and the only other wood I know 
of suitable for posts is what is gen- 
erally known as white or yellow cedar, 
which for the purpose is far inferior 
to the red cedar, although one-half the 
cost of the latter. 

A post that is dressed 5x5 or 6x4 is 
large enough for ordinary houses. It 
is well to have all parts set firmly in 
the ground, especially the outside ones, 
although the posts must not be trust- 
ed to keep the walls plumb, however 
well set. If the post hole is dug a few 
inches on all sides larger than the post 
and when the posts are set perfectly 
true and straight by the aid of two 
lines, one near the top and one near 
the bottom, and the excavation filled 
in with concrete, gravel and cement, 
which should be carried above the sur- 
face as high as possible, you have 
fastened the posts as firmly as it is 
possible to do. 

The tops of the posts should be cut 
off square. Now, how do you get this 
line so that the plate shall be a per- 
fect line? Not with a swinging line, 
surely, for you can never get a perfect 
line by any cord, however taut. With 
a 10-ft. straight-edge and level you 
first get a level on the two end posts, 
the two extreme ends, then if you wish 
to drop two or three inches to the 
shed, or the same from the shed, you 
measure down the number of inches 
on the end that you wish to drop, tack 
on a strip of wood a few inches Ijroad 
with a straight top edge, and when it 
is nailed on the post temporarily let it 
project a foot or so outside the line of 
posts and perfectly level. Nail a simi- 
lar piece on the post at the other end 
and the height you have decided on, 
dab a little black paint on one of the 
strips and on the other some white 
paint. 

Then a man (two men are better) 
with a 2-ft. spirit level held to the side 
of all the intermediate posts will give 
you an exact line. One man should 
hold the spirit level, level and raise 
or lower by order of the boss, who is 
sighting over one of the end strips. 
When the top of the level is exactly 
even or in a line with the tops of the 
strips make a pencil mark on the post 
and move to another. You will have 
a line when your posts are cut off 
that is not pretty near a line, but cor- 
rect to a hair. Why the strips of wood 
should be white and black is to help 
you sight, and it would be difficult to 
sight truly if it were just the ordinary 
planed pine. 

I have described this operation 
seemingly at some length, but twenty 
posts are marked quicker than I have 
described it. It is the only way to .get 
a true line, and when established it is 
a guide for your pipes and benches, 
or you can level across to another run 
of posts if need be, although your cor- 
ner posts once correct this sighted line 
is much truer than any straight edge. 
The top of post should be cut off 
square and on it spiked the plate, 
which should be broad enough to pro- 



ject an inch over the post on the in- 
side and four inches outside of the 
posts, then when the matched board- 
ing and novelty siding is nailed on 
there is still a projection of two inches. 




The plate should be beveled both 
ways and the heel of the bar being cut 
to the bevel it affords good solid nail- 
ing. The outside bevel should be the 
same as that of the slope of your roof. 
Posts that support a gutter should 
never be more than four feet from 
center to center. For outside posts we 
have got along very well with posts 
eight feet apart. There is no great 
weight on the outside plate and the 
two thicknesses of siding help sup- 
port it. 

The posts for partitions, or that will 
support the gutter, should be sawed 
at the same level as the corresponding 
posts outside, and the gutter plate 
project equally on either side. If the 
center posts are of red cedar 6x3 is 
just as good as square. 

Gutters. 

Many a good dollar has been thrown 
away in the days gone by in the won- 
derful construction of the gutter. Good 
pine boards nailed in all sorts of com- 
plicated ways and then covered with 
zinc, tin or galvanized iron, only put 
up to rot. The gutter now is a sim- 
ple affair and promises to last as long 
as the ridge. It is simply a plank of 
the clearest and soundest cypress and 
V\i inches thick when dressed, and 
either eight inches or twelve inches 
wide. If eight inches then the gutter 
pieces which the bars butt against and 
are nailed, are screwed on the side of 
the gutter plate, thus: 




SINCtlES' 




Or if a foot wide then the pieces are 
nailed on top of the gutter, as below: 




12 INCHES 




The FLORISTS' Manual. 



117 



i prefer the latter plan, and after 
six years' trial of It have no fault or 
failure in the least. You should have 
at least a clear eight Inches in width 
of gutter, and the side pieces, whether 
nailed on the side or on top, should 
not be less than 2% inches above gut- 
ter before the bevel begins. The plan 
for joining the gutter plates, explained 
and illustrated in the work "How to 
Grow Flowers," by the late Myron A. 
Hunt, is excellent, and again I say, 
after some years of adoption, I can see 
no better way. 

A coarse saw groove is made in the 
center of the thickness of the plate 
three inches deep and one-eighth or a 
trifle less wide. Both planks where 
they will butt will be sawed, then get 
a piece of sheet iron six inches broad 
and the length of the breadth of the 
gutter plate and the thickness of the 
saw cuts, and after smearing it with 
white lead drive it home in the saw 
groove of one plate that is already in 
place, and when the next plate is laid 
that is also driven home. If the planks 
have been sawed perfectly square, this 
is an absolutely tight joint. We never 
look for these joints to be over a post, 
as the joint is as strong as any part of 
the gutter. 

The Ridge. 

The ridge is 8x1% dressed. This al- 
lows ample face for the bevel of the 
bar, the groove for the glass to enter, 
and three inches above the bar for the 
ventilator if hinged at ridge, or bevel 
of ventilator to close against if open- 
ing at the ridge. 

The main support to keep a house 
rigid and perfectly straight and true, 
as long as it will stand, and that is. we 
trust, a long time, is a H4-inch iron 
pipe straight under the ridge. It the 
ridge is thus supported the whole 
weight is really, taken off the walls. 
In wind storms the roofs of our green- 
houses are severely tested, and this 
center support should be screwed into 
1 fitting which has a shoulder that fits 
under and screws on to side of the 
ridge. 




At the bottom or floor this should be 
screwed into a circular plate which 
should be screwed into a short post 
securely set into the ground a couple 
of feet. Some only rest the bottom of 
this iron pipe on a stone. That is good 
enough for all weight from above, but 
in case of great wind storms, when a 
vacuum is formed in the house, I have 
seen the iron supports lifted clear off 
the stone, which is a wrenching of the 
roof and conducive to cracked glass. 

In houses such as we have endeav- 
ored to describe, intended for plants 
in pots, if planted out to smilax or as- 



paragus they would be on the ground, 
and wheeling on the benches would 
not be necessary. 

The neatest way to support the pur- 
lins is by getting the fittings made by 
Jennings Bros., of Philadelphia. They 
are made to go over a lV4-inch pipe 
with a branch, one in each side, with 
a socket for a 1-inch pipe. They are 
fastened at any height on the center 
lV4-inch pipe by a set screw and have 
knuckle joints so that the 1-inch pipe 
leading from them can be set at any 
angle. 




It will be readily seen that the 
weight from the purlins pressing to a 
common center must be the best of 
support. The purlins, one on each side 
of the ridge, should be situated about 
half way between ridge and gutter or 
plate; or if you use a heavy bar let it 
be a little nearer the ridge than the 
gutter, because it will keep the bars 
more rigid near the ventilators. There 
should be 1-inch gas pipe set every 
eight feet (same distance apart as the 
center posts). You must put in a T 
into which will screw the 1-inch pipe 
that leads from the fitting on center 
post. 

The bars are fastened to the purlins 
neatly and quickly by a steam fitter's 
galvanized iron clip, which you buy 
by the weight. The clip is screwed 
into the bar with a %-inch screw and 




holds the bar firmly, but not so 
firmly but what a rap with the 
hammer will move it either way 
when you are glazing. Be sure 
that you get the pattern for the 
bar the exact bevel both for the ridge 
and plate. Nothing looks worse than 
an ill fitting open joint at the heel of 
the bar on the plate. Once get your 
pattern correct and the mitre box laid 
out right and you will have every 
joint correct. 

When putting on the bars we put up 
the ridge the whole length, nailing up 
i bar on each side every five or six 
feet, but only temporarily, and then 
the iron work is put up. By sighting 
ilong the bars the fitting that controls 
the purlins can be raised or lowered 
till you can get an exactly straight 
roof. 

Glazing has been dealt with in an- 
other chapter. 



Cypfess. 

It is a great pleasure to build houses 
nowadays. You know you are putting 
them up to stay. It is quickly done 
and much of the pleasure arises from 
the fact that you are building with a 
material that is well nigh indestructi- 
ble, and that is cypress lumber. Cy- 
press can be procured in any lumber 
market, but for greenhouse building 
we should be afraid to trust it, and 
we prefer to get our supply from firms 
who make a specialty of greenhouse 
material and have the facilities for 
getting out material of any dimensions 
you wish. 

In the material furnished for ten 
houses during the past seven years 
by the Lockland Lumber Co., we have 
yet to discover a single knot; and 
what is more, neither in gutter plate, 
wall plate, ends of bars or any part 
or piece of the material have we seen 
decay, even to the depth of a sixteenth 
of an inch. 

Painting. 

When you contemplate building get 
the wood work on the ground at the 
earliest possible moment, and get a 
priming coat of paint, mostly linseed 
oil, applied at once. And as soon as 
the plates, ridge and bars are cut to 
their lengths, another two coats 
should be given. You can paint on 
the ground just ten times as fast as 
you can on the roof. 

As we butt our glass, there is no 
need of any painting after the roof is 
up and the glass in. The ends of the 
bars are always given an extra dab of 
thick paint just before they are nailed 
up, and this should be done by a boy 
• who hands them up to the carpenter. 

I will mention here that no part ot 
the wood work where moisture can lie 
should be flat. All parts should have 
a bevel either in or out. 

General Notes. 

The length of a house is largely 
your own choice. If for plants there 
is a continual running backwards and 
forwards to a shed at the end, carry- 
ing often heavy flats of plants, and I 
think 150 feet is long enough, and 125 
feet is better. 

The soil or site on which green- 
houses are built differs widely. I have 
some covering a light loam and the 
subsoil is gravel and shale. If a hose 
were left running a whole night on 
the floor of these houses the water 
would have entirely disappeared a few 
minutes after the faucet was shut off. 
I have other houses where if the faucet 
only leaks a trifle there is a pool of 
water for hours. For several reasons 
I think it very injurious to have the 
surface of the green house a wet, damp 
soil, retentive of moisture. This may 
be all right for orchids, but for the 
great majority of our plants, especially 
roses, carnations, violets, and the great 
bulk of our plants, a stagnant mois- 
ture is just what we don't want. 

If your soil is a retentive clay, there 
should be provision for draining it be- 
fore you put up any structure. Dig a 



m 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



trench two feet deep and at its bottom 
put in a 3-inch drain tile, and instead 
of filling in the trench again with the 
clay, as you would in draining a field, 
fill up to the surface if possible with 
stones, clinkers and coarse gravel. You 
will find this money well spent. You 
can always find some outlet for the 
pipes at one end, running them all In- 
to one cross drain and dropping into 
the stoke hole if you have no other 
system. 

Just a word here about houses that 
are connected and form what are 
known by builders as valleys. Some 
may say they are bad for the snows. 
Now, the writer certainly lives in a 
district where the supply of "the beau- 
tiful'" is most bountiful, and we have 
noticed year after year that we are no 
more troubled with snow in the valleys 
than we are on the outside roofs. It 
seems to melt quicker in the valleys 
and the gutter than it does on the out- 
side plates, and runs and melts as 
quickly off the glass unless it be on the 
almost perpendicular face of the short 
span to the south, which, of course, is 
always clear. Ordinary snows (a tall 
of five or si.x inches) don't bother any 
houses on any kind of roof, but when 
we get four feet in twenty-four hours, 
as we did last December, or the visita- 
tion to the eastern cities in February 
last that upsets all calculations, and 
it is a case of dig out, front, back and 
middle. 

The worst condition is where one ot 
the avalanche-like falls have come 
suddenly The heat of the glass will 
melt the snow some five or six inches 
from the glass and then its power is 
lost and there hangs a covering ot 
snow a foot deep. This we found as 
troublesome on the outside slope of' 
the roofs as in the valleys, and with 
our modern wooden gutters it is eas- 
ily broken up, and when once dis- 
turbed soon goes. 

I never could see any use in outside 
gutters unless you wanted to save the 
water from the roofs. If made of 
metal they are continually breaking 
down with the ice and had better be 
made of wood. The ground surround- 
ing houses should always be so graded 
that surface water will flow off where 
it will do no harm. It the water ot 
the gutters is saved be sure to tap 
your gutter plate two feet from the 
farther end, if the houses grade that 
way. A conductor of any sort on the 
end and outside of a house is a big 
failure and is the winter long a fantas- 
tic and ornamental miniature iceberg. 

■Where the water is not used the 
houses will of course drop two or three 
inches from the shed to the farther 
end We let the gutter plate project 
six inches beyond the house, and mak- 
ing a saw groove an inch or two deep 
in it insert a piece of tin a few Inches 
broad This throws the water clear 
of the house and provision is made by 
the outside grade to carry it away 
from the buildings. 

Under the head of painting we 
meant to say a word about painting 
the iron work. We have just had 



some experience with some li,4-inch 
pipe supporting the roof that ran 
through the benches on which we have 
frequently used coal ashes to stand 
the plants on. They have only been 
up six years. The pipes began to cor- 
rode and scale oft and this summer are 
rusted clear through, not in holes, but 
an inch or two of the pipes are clear 
gone. We have often used coal ashes 
on the floor and believe they should be 
kept clear of all wrought iron pipes. 
We also believe that all our iron sup- 
ports, ventilating shafts, heating pipes 
and all pipes of every description 
should be well painted with white lead 
and oil. 

As for any porousness of our pipes, 
that is perfect nonsense. A friend re- 
marked on seeing 2-inch heating pipes 
painted that it would prevent radia- 
tion. Nonsense; it will help it. A 
smooth surface is always a better con- 
ductor of heat than a rough one. Paint 
all your pipes everywhere. It will 
save them and it will help to give 
lightness to the house, and light means 
health and life. If painted in the sum- 
mer time there will be no possible 
.odor from the lead, and the slight 
fumes of the linseed oil are more a 
benefit than otherwise. 

Gi eznhouses for Producing Flowers. 

I have at some length given the di- 
rections for building, and the same 
will apply precisely to houses that are 
built to grow roses and carnations, 
except the shape, size and aspect. The 
object sought in these houses is to get 
every possible ray of sunshine, and 
besides direct sunshine, light; for 
there are many days, yes, and weeks, 
in the dead of winter in our northern 
clime when we don't see the sun at 
all. 

There are three styles of these 
houses and all have theii* champions. 
They are the long-span-to-the-south, 
the equal or nearly equal span, and 
the short-span-to-the-south. Twenty 
years ago and less the long-span-to- 
the-south house was considered by 
many as the only house for winter 
roses. Then came the very reverse of 
that, the short-span-to-the-south, and 
within seven or eight years many good 
growers have gone back to the simple 
equal span, and from results believe 
that it is as good a house as any. 

All of these styles when built for 
fiower producing face to the south, or 
what is still better, facing a few points 
to the east of that. The ridge is run- 
ning east and west, or a few points 
north of east, and south of west. It 
is obvious that only one style of these 
three can have a range of glass at- 
tached, and that is, of course, the 
short-span-to-the-south. If attached 
the equal span would shade the house 
to the north of it, making one-fourth 
at least of the north house useless, 
and the long-span-to-the-south con- 
nected would be still worse and out 
of the question. 

So excepting the short-span-to-the- 
south the other two styles are always 
built with their walls some 18 to 20 



feet removed from another structure. 
Where land is cheap, and most large 
establishments are so situated, this is 
no great consideration; and if it takes 
more heat, but the results are suffi- 
ciently better, that also is not an ob- 
jection. The long-span-to-the-south 
doubtless predominates throughout 
the country, but that does not confirm 
it as the best, because florists, like all 
other classes, are great copyists, and 
if one or two leaders said so the rest 
would follow sheep-like, notwithstand- 
ing the fact that millions of fine roses 
have been produced for years in the 
long-span-to-the-south houses. 

I see nothing about them in any re- 
spect to warrant their being called 
the best houses for the purpose. If 
there is any merit, and there un\loubt- 
edly is, in the short-span-to-the-south, 
then the others must be entirely 
wrong. They are expensive to build, 
awkward and costly to arrange the 
benching in, more laborious to attend 
to, and do not get the direct rays of 
the sun to the same extent as do the 
equal span or short-span-to-the-south. 

The front wall is usually 4 feet 6 
Inches (and 18 inches or 2 feet of it 
glass), the back wall 8 feet, the back 
or short rafter 8 feet and the long 
south rafter IS feet. These are the 
dimensions for a house 19 feet wide; 
if 22 feet wide the long rafter is 18 
feet and the short one 9 feet. An up- 
right 1%-inch pipe supports them un- 
der the ridge with a branch holding a 
1-inch purlin a foot below the ventila- 
tor headers, and another upright sup- 
porting another 1-inch purlin is need- 
ed half way between the plate and 
ventilator purlin. The ventilators of 
these houses are always on the south 
side of the ridge and open at the 
ridge; and as ventilation should be 
afforded to the fullest extent, it should 
be continuous and deep. 

It is thought necessary to raise the 
benches so that the plants should be 
at about an equal distance from the 
glass, and the benches are arranged in 
a 19-foot house as follows: The south 
bench 3 feet and path 18 inches or 2 
feet. The middle bench 6 feet and the 
back or north bench 3 feet. If the 
house is 22 feet the front bench is 3 
feet and the back bench 3 feet and 
two middle benches of 5 feet each, 
with three paths, each path and bench 
being raised a foot or so till the back 
or north path is 4 feet from the 
ground. If heated with hot water the 
pipes are mostly under the benches. 
If steam is used the flow is most likely 
raised above the plants and the re- 
turns under the bench. It is as well 
to add, because it is the truth, that 
these houses, while getting the sun's 
rays in winter very obliquely, get it 
broadside in the summer, making 
them terribly hot houses in the sum- 
mer months. 

The short-slope-to-the-south is also 
built sometimes 19 feet wide and some- 
times 22 feet. The walls are of equal 
height, usually five feet. There is a 
path against the north and south 
walls and one dividing the two bench- 



The Rorists' Manual. 



n9 



es, which are about 6 feet 6 inches 
each. The paths being removed from 
the walls gives you the ideal place to 
hang your pipes, whether steam or hot 
water. 

An improvement over the house just 
described, and one that is giving the 
owner the greatest satisfaction (after 
a trial of several of them he has added 
some more of the dimensions of 400x 
22 feet), is 22 feet from outside to out- 
side of posts. The south or short bar 
is 9 feet, the long or north bar is 18 
feet, and the walls 5 feet high. On 
the south side there is a path next the 
wall, then a 6-foot bench, then an- 
other 6-foot bench, then again a path, 
and against the north wall a 3-foot 
bench. There is a 1%-inch pipe un- 
der the ridge with a branch from that 
supporting a purlin near ventilator 
headers, and another row of li/4-inch 
pipe supporting a purlin three feet 
lower down the roof on the north side. 
The ventilation in these south-span- 
to-the-south houses is always on the 
north side and open at the ridge. 

Now, happening to know several of 
these houses, I can vouch for the very 
excellent quality of the flowers that 
are grown in them, and having two 
of them myself, I am ready to accord 
to them the several advantages and 
merits they possess. They are easy 
and cheap to build, much more so than 
the long-span-to-the-south. They are 
cheaply heated; less pipe will heat 
them than either of the other two 
styles. When there is any sun in our 
dreary winter you must get the direct 
rays, for the face of the south slope 
is about at right angles with the rays 
of the sun in our shortest days. They 
are most decidedly the coolest houses 
in summer, which Is a decided advan- 
tage, and last they can be built at- 
tached with gutter and walls only 
separating them. 

The front or south bench being 
some two feet from the wall there is 
not the slightest shade from the ridge 
of the house on the south. The fact 
of these houses being in a block, and 
the roof of one largely breaking the 
force of the wind to the north, is a 
great saving of fuel. I can only say 
that some of the best rose growei-s 
of the country, having adopted this 
style of house seven or eight years 
ago, are highly satisfied with them and 
are still building more, and the quality 
of their product is evidence of their 
not being far wrong. 

The equal span house is to me about 
the ideal. It may take more heat, but 
it gives the best distribution of light. 
An equal span of 22 ft. should always 
be removed from another like house 20 
ft. The walls should be 5 ft., a path 
against each wall, and two more sep- 
arating the benches, and three benches 
each 5 ft. wide. This house would 
take a 14 ft. bar, and in addition to the 
main support in the center would need 
a purlin on each side. 

Ample ventilation should be sup- 
plied on the south side of the ridge 
and opening at the ridge. Ventilation 
could be put into the walls of this 




Every 
Description 



JOHN Q) - utL^^H^^t^iiKjn 

JflONINGER^S' NAWTHORNEAv^/rW(7(5 



house, but you would not use it for 
roses, and for carnations if shading is 
attended to, I am convinced it is not 
necessary, as carnations in our equal 
span houses with only top ventilation 
are often so vigorous and thriving at 
the end of August that it seems a sac- 
rifice to throw them away. 

We have on these equal span houses 
some large ventilators on the north 
side that are not worked by any ap- 
paratus, and not used till settled warm 
weather, when they are raised up a 
foot or so on stout blocks, fastened 
down with wire and left open till 
planting time, or in some cases till 
there is danger of the houses getting 
too cold. I am sure that in carnation 
houses these ventilators to be used on- 
ly in our hot weather are of great use. 

Why a steep roof always makes a 
lighter house than a flat roof is not 
easy to explain, but it is so, and un- 
mistakably so. Many times have I 
compared the light in the three dif- 
ferent styles of houses on the same 
day and the equal span at an angle of 
about 45 degrees is much the lightest 
appearing house, and I believe al- 
though the short-span-to-the-south has 
many advantages, particularly on the 
score of economy of heat and space, 
that the equal span, using the same 
glass and bar, has the most perfect 
diffusion of light and comes nearer 
the ideal for producing high class flow- 
ers. 

A violet house should run north and 
south. You get all the light you wanf 
in the winter and you would get too 
much sun in the early spring if the 
house faced south. Under the head of 
violets I will give you my idea of a 
violet house. 

In conclusion all I have said about 
any of these houses, both for plants 
and flowers, applies only to those that 
you are going to build under your own 
supervision. If you have no mechan- 
ical genius at all, engage a horticul- 
tural builder. Some men have the 
bump of destruction and some of con- 
struction. The writer wishes no great- 
er pleasure in this world than bossing 
the erection of glass structures. Poor 
fare and short hours in bed will do 
him then if he can only squint over 
those pieces of wood by which we get 
a line on the posts or hangers for the 
pipes. 



Florists' 
Supplies 



AT.... 

HALF PRICE. 



Write for our Catalogue No. 51, 
quotinK low prices on 

PIPE, WIRE, 
HOSE, BOILERS 
and Supplies 

of all kinds. 

We have BOILER TUBES or 

FliUES of a second-hand nature, which 
we guarantee in first-class condition. 
They are used extensively by Green- 
liou.senien as maius for"liot water 
heating' and for sundry other purposes. 

Chicago 

House Wrecking 

Company, 

W. 35tli & Iron Sts. Chicago, ill. 

Expert Advice... 

On All Matters Pertaining to 

Greenhouse Building. 

HENRY W. GIBBONS, 

Greenhouse Architect and Builder, 

136 Iiiberty St., NEW TOSK, N. Y. 

Catalogues, Four Cents. 



The well known firms I mentioned 
in my opening remarks in this chapter 
will put you up most excellent com- 
mercial houses and make them any 
shape or design you wish. What I 
have tried to convey is the method by 
which you can erect with the help of 
one good carpenter and his tools sub- 
stantial lasting houses that will grew 



120 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



flowers and plants equal to the best. 
And if you are a builder yourself, not 
necessarily able to handle a jack 
plane, but to boss the job, you can 
build first class houses at least 50 per 
cent cheaper than the iron frame 
houses of the horticultural builder, 
and 20O per cent cheaper and better 
than the local carpenter, glazier and 
steam fitter. 

It will be asked why don't I say 
what would be the cost per lineal foot 
of a house about 20 ft. wide. As near 
as I could keep a record of the last 
house I built, 19 ft. wide, heated for 
carnations by hot water, using double 
thick glass, the Challenge ventilator, 
the best clear cypress lumber, red 
cedar posts and wooden benches, they 
cost about |8 per lineal foot. This was 
a year ago before the high tariff had 
had a chance to shed its beneficent 
blessings on the florists' calling. 

Possibly at present prices of pipe 
and glass the same houses could not 
be built for less than $12 per lineal 
foot, but as glass is principally made 
of sand and fire and wind, with which 
we are well supplied, and there is iron 



enough in our mountains to last the 
world ten thousand years, neither the 
folly of alleged statesmanship nor the 
greed of corporations can long keep 
those commodities up to these arti- 
ficial and preposterous prices. 

We trust lumber will not go up in 
sympathy with the manufactured ar- 
ticles. There are broad miles (and I 
hope thousands of miles) yet in the 
southern states of cypress, and its 
great value seems only within this 20 
years to have become widely known. 

The Canadians use the wood of the 
Larch (Tamarax) for benches, and a 
most excellent wood it is for the pur- 
pose, possessing largely the good qual- 
ities of the cypress. They are both 
deciduous conifers. The tamarax is 
the larch of our northern swamps, and 
the southern cypress is a beautiful 
tree, Taxodium distichum. 

GREVILLEA ROBUST A. 

There are many species of these 
small trees or shrubs, some of them 
very ornamental, but G. robusta is the 
easiest to grow and most useful to the 
florist. It is often called the Austra- 




Aquilegia Chrysantha. 



lian silk oak. We use it in vases and 
veranda boxes, and plants a foot to 
two feet high make very useful plants 
for winter decoration. It withstands a 
good deal of rough treatment and does 
very well in winter in a cool green- 
house, subject to no insects and thriv- 
ing in any soil. 

It is always raised from seed, which 
should be sown in flats in March or 
April, and shifted along as required. 
Keep them in doors on the benches if 
you can afford the room, and give 
them little or no shade and they will 
make useful plants the following 
spring. It is best to sow seeds every 
spring, as the plants when over three 
feet high lose their value as decorative 
plants, or rather there are other plants 
occupying no more room that are bet- 
ter for the purpose. Avoid getting 
them into large pots, a 5-inch pot will 
do very well for a plant two to three 
feet high, and that is a great advant- 
age when you are using decorative 
plants. 

HARDY PERENNIAL PLANTS. 

This term is usually meant to apply 
to our long list of herbaceous plants, 
a few of which are useful to the florist 
as cut flowers. The demand of late 
has greatly increased for hardy plants, 
and where the florist has some good 
land at his disposal he should be sup- 
plied with a collection of the lead- 
ing kinds so that he can supply the 
demands of his customers. 

The increased demand for this class 
of plants is to be attributed to so 
many of our people of means having 
summer homes in the country. They 
have usually more land than they can 
take care of, and not wishing to go 
deeply into the formal flower garden 
with our tender plants they turn to 
the hardy herbaceous perennial kinds 
to fill up the beds and borders. 

In preparing ground to receive these 
perennial plants, either to produce 
flowers for your own cutting or for 
your customer, remember you cannot 
very well dig too deeply or manure too 
heavily, and with the great majority 
it should be well drained and dry. You 
can top dress and manure annually, 
but you can never recover by subse- 
quent cultivation the mistake of plant- 
ing in shallow, poor soil. 

Although called perennials they 
wear out and most of them are greatly 
benefited by lifting and dividing every 
four or five years. There are so many 
species cultivated of this class for the 
herbaceous border, and they differ so 
widely, that no rule for their propa- 
gation and treatment will do for all. 
It is generally conceded that early fall, 
as soon as the foliage or stems are 
about dried up, is the best time to 
transplant, and hence it is the best 
time to fill your customers' orders. 

If you cultivate a row or two of the 
leading kinds, keep them in straight 
lines and far enough apart to run the 
horse cultivator between them. Many 
thousand plants will go on one acre, 
but they want keeping clean and must 
be constantly hoed, and should be al- 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



121 




Double Delphiniums. 



ways plainly labeled as they are often 
moved before their growth appears. 
One more important thing is when you 
plant dormant crowns of paeonies, 
phlox, etc., keep them two or three 
inches below the surface; the winter 
will be sure to raise them up. 

Herbaceous plants are always bene- 
fited by some stable manure scattered 
between the rows and over the crowns. 
In their natural state they would at 
least get the benefit of their own 
withered tops, while most of them 
would get a covering of leaves from 
the trees whose branches covered 
them. For appearance sake we rob 
them of their natural covering. 

Those most useful to the florist and 
which have not received notice in their 
alphabetical order are as follows: 

ACHIL/LEA. Several species, good 
for rockwork, easily divided in fall or 
early spring. 

ANEMONE japonica alba. This is a 
florist's flower, and a beautiful fall 
blooming plant. Division. 

AQUILEGIA. The beautiful colum- 
bine. There are several magnificent 
species that should be in every garden. 
Seed. 

CAMPANULA. Several species. 
Carpathica, the Canterbury Bell, is 
popular with all. Not a florist's flower, 
but fine for the border. liaised from 
seed, sown in August in cold-frame 
and transplanted later a few inches 



apart in good soil in cold-frame, where 
they can be protected during winter 
and plant out in permanent bed or 
nursery row as soon as ground is dry 
in the spring. In other varieties when 
stated that they can be raised from 
seed the above directions will suit 
them all. 

COREOPSIS. The best of the spe- 
cies for the fiorist is lanceolata. Grace- 
ful and beautiful yellow flowers. Seed. 

DELPHINIUMS. Most every one 
knows the D. formosum, which is 
often called larkspur. The improved 
varieties are among the handsomest 
of our hardy flowers, and are decidedly 
of value to the florist. Their handsome 
spikes, from the lightest shades of 
blue to indigo, and even to bronze, are 
grand ornaments for our stores, even 
if they do not sell; but invariably 
those who see them want a plant. 
They flower a long time, should the 
weather not be too dry, and last a 
long while in water when cut. Seed, 
or divisions or cuttings. 

Cuttings of herbaceous plants should 
always be made from the young shoots 
of early spring, wiien only a few inches 
above ground. The heat in our propa- 
gating houses then, which is early 
May, is often about gone, as firing is 
only then very moderate. 

Where a considerable number of 
these cuttings are to be put in, such as 
delphiniums, phlox or pyrethrum. 
there is no place so well adapted as 



a hot-bed. Eighteen inches of manure 
well and evenly trodden down, with a 
few inches of soil and then two inches 
of sand, will root any of these plants. 
Give air carefully, shade from sun and 
keep watered. When rooted give 
plenty of air till potted off and then 
grow on in cold-frame all summer. 
These will be good plants in 3 or 
4-inch pots, either to sell or to plant 
out in September or October. 

DIELYTRA (Bleeding Heart). Of- 
ten forced, but beautiful and graceful 
as D. spectabilis is, it takes up too 
much room. A very handsome, hardy 
plant. Division. 

DIGITALIS. White and purple and 
yellow; the well known foxglove. 
Stately spikes of flowers. Seed. 



r" 




Helianthus Orgyilis. 



8 



J 22 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



DORONICUM. Of service to the 
florist lieoause its bright yellow flowers 
are among the first to open after the 
snow is gone. Division. 

FUNKIA. The Day lily. There are 
several species of them, all handsome 
leaved plants. Division. 

GAILLARDIA grandiflora. Showy 
bright flowers. Seed. 

HELIANTHUS. There are now a 
number of these fall growing peren- 
nial sunflowers, many of them very 
useful to the florist. The variety known 
as multiflorus flore plena became so 
common that it is no longer acceptable 
even in the cheapest bunches of 



MONARDA didyma. A native north- 
ern plant, though not common. A flne 
herbaceous plant. Division. 

PAEONTEiS. See in their alphabeti- 
cal order. 

PHLOX. There are several species 
of hardy phlox, but it is the hybrids 
and varieties of P. decussata that are 
most desirable for the border and for 
the florist. We have found where they 
can be freshly cut and used they are 
most desirable, but will not travel 
well, dropping their florets badly. The 
many varieties are of beautiful shades 
and the phlox thrives in any soil. 
Cuttings or division, and for new va- 
rieties easily by seed. 




Hclianthus Multitlora Flore Plena. 



flowers, but the single species are very 
fine. Seed, division or cuttings. 

HEMEROCATjLIS. Several species, 
mostly yellow and orange flowers. 
Showy for the border, but not a flor- 
ist's flower. Seed or division. 

HIBISCUS. Californicus and others. 
Fine showy flowers. Seed. 

IRIS. These have such a fine spike 
and curious but beautiful flower that 
they are most desirable for the florist, 
and are wanted by every amateur. 
They do best in a rather moist soil and 
I'oot so freely that every third year 
they should be lifted and divided. 
There are now many varieties. The 
Japanese have immense flov/ers, and 
the I. gerraanica, or German iris, in- 
cludes now many beautiful varieties. 
Division, 

LOBELIA cardinalis. Not a Horist's 
flower, but most showy for the border. 
Division or seed. 



PYRETHRUM roseum. This is not 
truly herbaceous but is so hardy we 
will include it in this <diapter. The 
improved varieties, both double and 
single flowers, of this species are now 
iruly a florist's flower. They are seen 
in our store windows in May and June 
and are bought in preference to carna- 
tions. They are sometimes difficult to 
divide and make thrive, and cuttings 
as described above are best to increase 
your stock. Few border plants are so 
well worthy of cultivation. 

RUDBECKIA. The single flowered 
species, maxima and fulgida, are 
showy flowers, yellow with dark disk, 
and are sometimes useful to us as well 
as very fine border plants. But there 
is now a double form known as "Gold- 
en Glow," which is undoubtedly one 
of our finest hardy summer flowers. 
It is of a rich yellow. It is much su- 
perior to the dwarf double helianthus. 
Seed or division. 

To describe the many desirable 



hardy herbaceous plants would re- 
quire a good sized catalogue, and 1 
have mentioned but a few of those 
kinds which every florist should grow. 

HARDY SHRUBS. 

Some years ago I was asked to reply 
at one of our annual conventions to 
the query, "Is it advisable for the flor- 
i.^t to be in a position to supply to his 
customers hardy shrubs and trees?" 
The question was not probably just 
that but the sense was that. My an- 
swer was brief, and certainly not, with 
the knowledge of the business I have 
today, or to be more modest, which 
experience has compelled me to ab- 
sorb. Division of labor is most truly 
the order of the day, as much in our 
trade as in others, but circumstances 
alter cases. 

It would be absurd to think of Mr. 
Kift or Mr. Wienhoeber, or Mr. Thor- 
ley talking about the best hedge to 
plant, or a specialist like Charles D. 
Ball, or .John Burton, or Dailledouze 
Bros., going out to plant a group of 
shrubs. Their specialty is all they can 
do, or all they need do. But in smaller 
cities, among the men who grow and 
retail and plant flower gardens, there 
is a growing demand from their cus- 
tomers that they supply them with 
hardy roses, hardy vines, hedge plants, 
and shrubs, and if with shrubs why 
not with ornamental trees. 

Perhaps there is no local nursery- 
man, and if thei'e is he is too busy a 
man in his shipping season to l)other 
about retail orders. So who is there 
to supply the local trade? The tree 
Iieddler is fast losing ground, his won- 
derful pictures and himself are now 
discredited, and the local florist is 
called, for he is responsible, A tree 
peddler who still hangs out in the 
same neighborhood for ten years past, 
once told me that "he did not reckon 
to make a second sale to the same 
person," Fancy that, and we expect to 
make sales to the same people as long 
as they and we live. 'We will make 
our sales of shrubs or vines satisfac- 
tory. If failure occurs the first time 
we try again. 

In our growing suburbs and on our 
residence streets there is an increasin;; 
and continuous demand for handsome 
shrubs and ornamental trees, and it 
you have the knowledge what to buy 
and how and when to plant you are 
throwing away a great chance if you 
neglect this substantial part of the 
horticultural profession. If you can't 
show your men how to prune and 
plant a shrub get a foreman that can, 
but it is an enormous advantage if 
your early education embraced the 
spade as well as the pen. 

We used to deplore the absence in 
our northern clime of what are known 
as the broad leaved evergreens, such 
as the Sweet Bay, arbutus, aucuba and 
laurestinus that form the shrubberies 
of temperate Europe, but we believe 
now that our vegetation in this line 
is just right as it is, and with our 
snowed up winter the true evergreen 
would look too sombre. How beauti- 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



123 




A Field of Japanese Iris. 



fill and inspiring in tlie warm days of 
spring, after the liibernating days of 
winter, to see willows blossom, and 
later the gay scarlet flowers of Pyrus 
japonica and the yellow wreathing of 
forsythia. And then the many tinted 
leaves of the hardy shrubs. It is an 
awakening, an annual treat and pleas- 
ure to the senses that the monotonous 
sombre evergreen cannot give. So 
everything is right as it is. And Ja- 
pan has to be thanked for contributing 
a whole host of our best hardy shrubs. 

Shrubs, so called, are always more 
safely transplanted than trees for two 
reasons. They are seldom in the nurs- 
ery more than two or three years, and 
even the neglect of transplanting, of 
which our American nurserymen are 
woefully guilty, should they be left 
Ave or six years in one spot, does not 
prevent them from making a mass of 
roots, most of which can be lifted. So 
the percentage of loss in transplanting 
shrubs with any ordinary care is very 
low. 

The time of transplanting varies a 
week or so with the season. With a 
dry season and early frosts you can 
plant from middle of October till late 
in November. If you start early in the 
fall and the leaves have not fallen oft' 
the shrubs, pull or rather rub them 
olT. If they come off easily no harm is 
done. In spring the transition from 
winter to summer or- hot weather is 
sometimes very short and affords the 
planter but a very brief time. Had we 
a month of cool, moist weather be- 
tween frost and the bursting of the 
buds into leaf, I should say that April 



and even May was the best time of all 
to move shrubs. 

If the buds are breaking and the 
leaves showing, then the shrubs must 
be severely cut back. Even if you 
plant them in the most favorable time 
and in the best condition, it is neces- 
sary to shorten back the shoots. The 
larger and taller the shrub the more 
in proportion should it be cut back. 
Don't think, and don't let your cus- 
tomer think, there is going to be any 
eventual loss of growth or size on ac- 
count of this cutting back. The roots 
are disturbed, the fine fibrous roots 
that are the feeders and nourishers of 
the plant are gone or inactive, the 
shortened supply of sap goes to the 
extremities of the shoots and a feeble 
break or growth occurs at the end of 
the shoots, and the lower buds perish, 
and then you have bare stems. In- 
sist on it that transplanted shrubs and 
trees must be pruned more or less ac- 
cording to the loss of roots. 

A word here about future pruning. 
No shrubbery is planted for all time. 
Perhaps where they do well a mixed 
belt of shrubs never looks better than 
from six to ten years after they are 
planted. Then they crowd each other. 
Some grow tall and lose their beauty, 
so a shrubbery is never finished; it is 
a continual thinning out and replen- 
ishing. 

In pruning distinguish the differ- 
ence between those that set their 
flower buds in the fall and those that 
floorer on the growths of the current 
year. The lilac is a good type of the 
former, and if you prune severely in 



winter and spring you must cut away 
the flower buds. You will readily dis- 
tinguish the difference in these shrubs, 
and if they are to be pruned, a good 
time is just after they have done 
flowering, when they have time to 
make more growth and set more 
flower buds. The latter type is well 
represented by our hardy roses and the 
Hydrangea paniculata. The harder 
back this class of shrubs is pruned the 
larger and better the flowers. 

To revert once more to plant- 
ing. Many of our hardy shrubs will 
exist in any soil, but a quick and 
thrifty growth is what our customers 
want and expect, and when planting 
a group or bed of shrubs the soil 
should be dug a foot deep. Not mak- 
ing small holes for each plant, but the 
whole space dug deeply, and to it add 
plenty of animal manure. Don't be- 
lieve for a moment that shrubs don't 
like manure. It is just what will make 
them jump and grow. 

When singly on the lawn, let it be 
either a shrub, tree or any of the ever- 
greens, it is not depth that is needed. 
The hole to receive the shrub or tree 
need be only sufficient to let the plant 
dow-n to the same depth it stood in the 
nursery, an inch or so lower won't 
hurt many of the shrubs but with the 
trees and the evergreens this is very 
particular. When the ground is set- 
tled round them let it be just about as 
high on the stem as it was before mov- 
ing. 

It is width of hole you want, aijd if 
a. stiff clay, not only should width of 
excavation be large enough to enable 



124 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



you to spread the roots out without 
any bending or crowding, but every 
foot in diameter you go beyond this 
and fill in with good soil will much as- 
sist the growth and thrittiness of your 
tree. 

It matters not whether it is fall or 
spring there is only one way to plant 
a shrub or tree and that is to give its 
roots plenty of room in width, putting 
on suthcient soil to cover the roots, 
and by shaking the tree or shrub see 
that the soil Is well distributed among 
the roots. Firm the soil with your 
feet and then give it a thorough soak- 
ing. After the water has soaked in, 
wetting root and fiber, fill in with 
more soil to the grade of your bed or 
border. This first watering is worth ten 
on the surface. If planting has been 
done in the spring and we have a very 
dry summer, they will need a soaking 
every week, and if the surface is cov- 
ered with a mulch of two inches of 
stable manure it will add ten fold to 
the benefits of the watering. 

As 1 cannot afford a separate chapter 
on our evergreens, so called, or more 
properly our coniferous trees, I would 
say that the time of transplanting 
them differs much from the deciduous 
shrubs and trees. 

Evergreen conifers, such as the 
pines and spruces, and all of them, 
are best moved in the spring just as 
the young growths start, which is 
often the middle or end of May. This 
is a month later than the shrub plant- 
ing time. The next best time is the 
last week in August or first week in 
September. After middle of Septem- 
ber don't attempt to move evergreens. 
There is often a great disappoint- 
ment in planting spruce, pines, etc. It 
is not the fault of the plants, although 
in some cases it is often too crudely 
done. It is in most cases the fault of 
the nurseryman. Our American nur- 
serymen plant a Norway spruce or 
Australian pine from six to ten inches 
high and without even transplanting 
let some of them grow to 4, 5 or 6 ft., 
and then sell them. 

Whether they expect them to grow I 
don't know. They sell them and thus 
is their chief object attained. I saw 
this summer, every few days, several 
hundred nice symmetrical Australian 
pines, 3 to 4 ft. They looked well 
when planted this spring, but our 
summer has killed 90 per cent. These 
fine little trees had never been trans- 
planted in the nursery since they were 
ten inches high. And how many of 
their working roots had been saved 
when dug and sold, think you? 
Scarcely any. 

There is, I am glad to say, a school 
of young nurserymen coming to the 
front who are alive to this crude and 
almost dishonest way of growing ever- 
greens, and soon in every part of the 
land you will be able to buy a pine 
or thuya or abies or spruce and plant 
it with the same confidence that we 
plant the geranium in the beds, be- 
cause every two years they have had 
a move in the nursery. 
A local "Farmer-fruit grower-nurs- 



eryman," a long title but a correct one, 
said the public would not pay 25 cents 
for a transplanted Norway spruce 
when they could get one that looked as 
good for 10 cents. He is entirely 
wrong. We are all looking for the 
transplanted tree that won't disap- 
point us and our customers. I find 
the man of wealth, or even moderate 
means, anxious to pay for the best. 
It is quite different from their canna 
or geranium bed, which they know is 
for one short season. Their trees and 
shrubs are for the permanent improve- 
ment of their grounds. 

The evergreens like good rotten ani- 
mal manure just as much as the deci- 
duous shrubs, but unless well rotted 
don't put it in contact with the roots 
when planting. A little experience of 
mine of twenty-five years ago will be 
Instructive. On both sides of a Nor- 
way spruce hedge, as near as I could 
get to the stems, I forked in at least 
two inches of rotten stable manure. 
It was done in May. The trees made 
a fine growth and in attempting to 
lightly fork up the surface the follow- 
ing spring I found on both sides at 
least three feet from the stem, that 
the roots were just a mat close to the 
surface, and you might as well have 
tried to fork up a wire spring mat- 
tress. 

You should acquaint yourself with 
the many varieties of flowering shrubs 
and their habits and heights and time 
of flowering, so that they can be ar- 
ranged properly. The tallest growing 
in the background, etc. Some of them 
make fine groups or beds when jjlanted 
of just one kind. . This is decidedly 
triie of the favorite Hydrangea pani- 
culata, which makes a fine bed of a 
dozen or more plants, or even a single 
specimen on a lawn. 

A bed of shrubs that pleased me 
very much this summer was very gay 
near the entrance of our Forest Lawn 
Cemetery. The center was the com- 
mon purple barberry with an edging 
of the golden philadelphus. Another 
bed was Prunus Pissardii surrounded 
with the variegated cornus. In large 
grounds masses of one species are of- 
ten planted, but in private grounds 
the mixed collection of shrubs is most 
desirable, for with a proper selection 
there are always some in flower. But 
the flower is only a part of their beau- 
ty. I cannot afford space to give more 
than a list of the very best shrubs, in 
recommending any of which you will 
not go wrong, and here they are: 

Althea in several varieties. 

Berberis vulgaris and Thunbergii. 

CalycanthuK floridus. 

Corchorus japonica. 

Cornus (Dogwood). Several species. 
The variegated cornus is one of the 
best of all variegated shrubs. 

Cydonia (Pyrus) japonica. 

Deutzia crenata, gracilis and scabra. 

Exochorda grandiflora. 

Forsythia. several species; the ear- 
liest shrub in flower. 

Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora. 
There are two or three new species of 
this type, all fine. 



I>lgustrum (Privet). The Californian 
ovalifolium is most desirable. 

Lonicera tartarica. Tartarian hon- 
eysuckle. 

Magnolias. These are dwarf trees 
and deserve a place on the lawn alone, 
where they can show off their great 
beauty; several species. 

Philadelphus grandiflora. The mock 
orange. 

Rhus cotinus. Purple fringe. 

Rhus glabra laciniata. The cut 
leaved sumach. A most beautiful 
shrub or dwarf tree. 

Sambucus aurea. Golden elder. 
Most showy in early summer. 

Spiraea. This large genus has given 
us some of our finest flowering shrubs. 
Billardii. bumalda. Douglasii, pruni- 
folia, Reevesii. Thunbergii and Van 
Houttei are all grand, splendid shrubs. 

Staphylea colchica. The bladder nut. 

Symphoricarpus. The snowberry. 
Several species. 

Syringa. The well known lilac. 
Several species and varieties, and now 
some fine double forms. 

Viburnum. The snowball. Plica- 
tum and opulis. 

Weiglia. Many varieties. Rose, red 
and white flowers and variegated fo- 
liage. 

The above is not a collection but 
merely a selection. Many desirable 
kinds could be added. I have not in- 
cluded any of the broad leaved ever- 
green shrubs, as there are so few. 
Daphne cneorum does deserve a place 
in every garden. Euonymus radicans 
variegata is used for the margins of 
shrubberies. Mahonia aquitolia. with 
its racemes of yellow flowers and pur- 
ple fruit, is a beautiful hoUy-leaved 
like shrub, but unless shaded from the 
March suns it burns badly. 

Neither have I said anything about 
the rhododendrons, kalmias. or hardy 
azaleas. Where these American plants 
do well cultivated, as they do so flnely 
at Wellesley, Mass., and doubtless 
many other places, they are beautiful 
and desirable, but in a limestone dis- 
trict, without a great labor of trans- 
porting suitable soil, and again with 
our zero nights and bright days, they 
are useless, and to plant them is a 
fraud. They are a fit article for the 
tree peddler who never goes back af- 
ter the bill is collected, and who is 
usually nomadic in his habits, like the 
Parthians of old. 

We have not such a long list of 
evergreens or conifers and our win- 
ters bar us from planting many of 
great beauty that thrive in the British 
Isles, but we have yet a good variety. 
You are usually advised to plant small. 



EVERGREENS and 
HARDY SHRUBS 

FOR FLORISTS. 

DL'Scriptive Catalogue Free. 

SAMUEL C. MOON, - - Morrlsville. Pa. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



125 




Good advice, so long as nurserymen 
won't furnish you a tree that has been 
transplanted and furnished with a 
compact ball of roots. 

You must remember that many of 
the evergreens that are hardy In the 
vicinity of New York and Boston are 
useless in land in the latitude of Chi- 
cago, and many are catalogued as 
hardy, such as Cedrus deodara and Cu- 
pressus Lawsoniana. They are use- 
less in our vicinity. It is not only 
the low temperature but some other 
climatic influence that kills them or 
leaves them stunted, crippled objects. 

Several of the abies are fine, includ- 
ing alba, white spruce; canadensis, 
hemlock spruce, and excelsa, Norway 
spruce, many forms of it. Several 
junipers, the Irish. Swedish and our 
own red cedar. J. virginiana. Picea 
pungens. the Colorado blue spruce, is 
the most beautiful of our conifers, and 
P. balsamea. P. concolor and P. Nord- 
maniana. are fine trees. The pines are 
the noblest of the conifers. The Aus- 
trian is one of our hardiest trees, and 
so is P. sylvestris, the Scotch pine. 
P. strobus. our native white pine, and 
P. cembra. the stone pine. 

The retinosporas are dense growing, 
compact evergreens, and are good and 
hardy. The Thuyas ( arbor- vitae) 
make handsome trees. T. occidentalis 
is our yellow or white cedar, and T. 
orientalis is the Siberian or Chinese 
arbor-vitae. a very compact, hardy ev- 
ergreen. Taxodium distichum. the 
southern cypress, though deciduous, 



Garden of Hardy Plants in a Public Park. 

like our American larch, is a conifer 
and makes a splendid specimen for our 
lawns, and the giants of the south 
provide us with its invaluable timber. 
For dwarf evergreens the taxus (yew) 
are unequaled. They are hardy and 
have several ornamental forms. 

It is characteristic of many of the 
conifers that they vary much in form 
and color, hence the many varieties 
that are now known, and to this varia- 
tion we owe the several golden forms 
we have in the thuyas, taxus and reti- 
nosporas. 

I have said nothing about propaga- 
tion of the shrubs because that is 
a nurseryman's business, and unless 
you are in the business to some ex- 
tent you had better buy the shrubs 
from reputable nurserymen. Even 
they depend largely on importing 
small plants from Prance from spe- 
cialists who raise millions of the lead- 
ing varieties and supply them at a 
seemingly very low cost. If you have 
a few acres of good light soil, easy 
to work, it would be a good invest- 
ment to buy a thousand or so of small 
plants of the leading kinds and in 
two years you will have shrubs that 
you can sell your customers with the 
greatest confidence. 

The long list of noble trees I can- 
not enter on. Nur.se ry men publish de- 
scriptive catalogues of all desirable 
kinds. I am not in favor of trans- 
planting large trees from the woods of 
our native elms and maples. They 
survive a few years, but generally col- 
lapse in three or four. 



HEATING. 

There are only two recognized meth- 
ods of heating our glass structures, 
steam and hot water. Brick flues have 
gone and electricity has not come, 
but it may. Some fifteen years ago 
heating greenhouses by steam came 
with a rush, although it had long been 
used as a means of heating dwellings 
and large buildings. Men who had 
been at first most sanguine about its 
superiority over water began to hesi- 
tate and consider whether after all 
hot water had not the most advan- 
tages. A patriarch of the business, 
Mr. Peter Henderson, being asked by 
the writer in 1889 which was the best 
way to heat, inquired what system I 
was then using. On being told "hot 
water." the reply came quick and 
brief. "Keep on with the hot water." 

But after all this ebb and flow of 
popular favor it is now well estab- 
lished that with an improved system 
of piping, steam tor many establish- 
ments is the cheapest and best, and 
although by no means claiming to 
know of steam what I do of the circu- 
lation of water, we will flrst consider 

Steam Heating. 

Steam as applied to heating green- 
houses has several advantages over 
water. Heat is quickly produced by 
steam and sent through the houses 
in case of a quick fall of the outside 
temperature. It is also quickly re- 
duced or entirely absent in the pipes 
should you see in the early morning 



126 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



that it is going to be a briglit. waini 
(lay and no steam heat will be need- 
ed. This I consider one of its very 
best features, for we all know how we 
have suffered with over heated houses 
when the water in the pipes would not 
cool. ■ 

With a number of pipes and a valve 
at each, a house with steam and prop- 
er attention can be kept at almost 
the desired degree. It is cheaper to 
put in a steam plant. The piping is 
much cheaper, sufficiently less to off- 
set the larger cost of boiler. 

Steam is undoubtedly the best sys- 
tem when a block of houses is devoted 
to one purpose, but where two rose 
houses and two carnation houses are 
heated by one boiler it would not be 
so economical, because a month or 
more after no heat was needed in the 
carnation houses you would have to 
still make steam for the rose houses. 

Where a dozen houses are used for 
many different plants water is to be 
preferred. Water can be heated to a 
temperature of say 140 degrees, just 
sufficient to take the chill off the 
house; a very slow burning tire will 
do this. With steam you must have 
sufficient fire to make steam or you 
may as well have no fire at all. It 
you wish only to fill one 1-inch pipe 
the boiler must be full of steam or 
none will pass into the pipe. Steam 
is most convenient for evaporating to- 
bacco. Altogether steam is the plan 
for large establishments, whei-e four 
or five houses will want heat at the 
same time, and water is the best for 
houses where less quantities but great- 
er variety is grown. 

Cast iron boilers of several makes 
are used by greenhouse men to gener- 
ate steam, but whei'ever there is much 
work to be done a steel tubular boiler 
is the best. If for locomotives, steam- 
ships and factories the tubular boiler 
is the best, why is it not the best for 
the greenhouse with some modifica- 
tion of the way the fire is applied. 

I have seen some greenhouse boilers 
where the fire or heat from it first 
passed under the whole length of the 
boiler, then returned to the front by 
half of the flues and again returned 
to the rear by the other half of the 
flues. We believe that was overdoing 
it. On returning the third time the 
smoke would be so cool that it could 
not help in making steam, therefore 
it was no help. It the draught is 
carried through one set of tubes and 
back by another you will have all out 
of the fuel that can be got towards 
making steam. 

Many prefer to use old marine boil- 
ers that have been condemned for use 
where high pressure was needed. They 
may last a long time, but as in every- 
thing else a new boiler made for you 
is the cheapest in the end. 

It is of the greatest importance that 
the boiler should be well down under 
its work. The working of a steam 
boiler when well down will be so much 
more satisfactory over one that has to 
return the condensed steam by an au- 
tomatic pump or trap, that any ex- 
pense In the way of excavation nr 



sewer is warranted. Keep the boiler 
down so that there is a perfect and 
unobstructed return to the boiler. It 
the top of the boiler is two feet lower 
than your return pipes in the house 
you are all right, but it convenient 
lower still is better. 

The size of pipe that you lead out of 
the boiler and the branches attached 
leading to the different houses will 
depend on the number and size of the 
houses. To illustrate. If you were 
heating six rose houses from one boil- 
ery. or battery of boilers, you woulil 
start with a 6-inch; the first two hous- 
es would be tapped from the G-inch. 
after which the main could be reduced 
to a 4-inch and from it feed two more 
houses. Then the main pipe could be 
reduced to a 3-inch ami supply one 
more house; and reducing the main to 
a 2-inch would be enough for the sixtli 
house. But be on the safe side and 
have good sized pipes for supply. 1 
may have given even a smaller sized 
pipe for the supply than is judiciou.-^. 

The arrangement of steam pipes is 
very like the modern way of arrang- 
ing pipes for hot water. They are us- 
ually carried up in the shed above the 
doorways for convenience sake. Just 
here let me say that all the steam 
pipes should be well covered with 
asbestos, mineral wool, or some such 
material; if exposed much condensa- 
tion would occur. 

When steam was first used in gi'een- 
houses, and maybe in some places yet. 
the main pipe or flow, a 2% or 3-inch, 
was carried along a foot or two from 
the roof, and at the end dropped into 
manifolds and returned in a number 
of 1-inch pipes, either on the side or 
under the benches. That is a very 
poor way to heat. Your hottest pipe 
was where it was of little benefit and 
if it had a long way to travel and a 
low pressure the steam would be con- 
densed before it reached the small 
pipes on which you depended mostly 
for your heat. 

On entering the house run your 2- 
inch pipe into a manifold and from 
that carry along your small pipes; 1- 
inch is considered the most economi- 
cal for steam. The pipes can be on 
the side wall, the best place of all. or 
under the benches. From the shed or 
boiler end drop the pipes slightly (two 
inches in a hundred feet is enough) 
and return the same way. Drop 
enough back to the boiler to empty 
the pipes is enough. For a return a 
1-inch will do for five flows. On reach- 
ing the shed let all the returns enter 
one 2-inch pipe and when convenient 
drop into the bottom of the boiler. 
The arrangement of steam pipes is 
more simple than hot water. You can 
drive steam but water will only flow 
by a natural law. 

I cannot give any quantities of pipe 
for a given house better than one I 
saw working last winter. It was at 
Mr. John H. Dunlop's. of Toronto. 
Canada, remember. The house (a 
rose house, short-span-to-the-southl. 
was 22 ft. wide and 200 ft. long. The 
pipes were 1-inch on the side wall, and 
two IVi-inch about eight inches from 



the roof, several feet apart. All these 
pipes were filled direct from the main 
supply (not running 2tl0 feet and used 
as returns). On the two side walls 
there were five 1-inch on each only. 
There was a 1-inch return for each 
side, and that for the five 1-inch flows 
was ample. 

Tliis seemed to me remarkably little 
l)ipe. and Mr. Dunlop assured me that 
at 10 below zero they could keep 56 
degrees with ease with about 10 lbs. 
of steam, and very seldom used the 
entire five pipes. He attached great 
importance to the 1^4-inch pipes near 
the roof in extremely cold weather, al- 
though in ordinary times they were 
not used. The pipes near the glass 
seemed to prevent that cold wave 
which in the best of houses seems to 
strike you on very cold nights and 
which is of course the air when sud- 
denly cooled dropping rapidly to the 
lowest point in the house. This is 
about half the surface of pipe that 
would be required with hot water, 
however well heated. Near the man- 
ifold, where the supply enters the 
house, every pipe should have a valve, 
so that you can use just as many of 
as few as weather compels. 

It is usual where a large amount of 
steam is used that two or more boilers 
are required. Perhaps you will use 
only one a great part of the season, 
and in several months your whole 
power, but one boiler should never be 
de])ended on. In case of a breakdown 
you may lose more in one night than 
two or three boilers would cost, and 
it is both in hot water and steam poor 
economy to have boilers that are just 
able to keep your houses comfortable 
in ordinary cold weather, for when ex- 
tremes come, having no reserve power, 
you will suffer. 

If your boiler is not big enough or 
you are deficient in pipes on these oc- 
casions you will be sepding fuel up 
the chimney in vain, besides the in- 
jury to your crops. Put up your boil- 
er and pipes with the understanding 
that you want a certain heat in your 
houses when the wind is blowing forty 
miles an hour and zero outside. Then 
when it is 20 degrees of frost and a 
clear, still night you will be in clover. 
In fact you will have "coal to burn." 
Not only on the small heating pipes 
should you have valves, but on all 
the main pipes leading to each house. 
I have found repeatedly that in hot 
water heating with small pipes it is 
wise economy to put in a valve where- 
ever. there is a possibility of your 
wanting to make an alteration or ad- 
dition, or shut off one house while 
using others. Don't spare the valves, 
you can hardly tell when their need 
will occur. 

Steam boilers with a good draught 
will burn a much inferior grade of 
coal than a cast iron hot water heat- 
er, and seldom that anthracite coal is 
used. The cheaper the fuel, however, 
the more of it. and more attention 
is needed. 

Where steam is used a night fire- 
man is a necessity, and one should be 
on the place at all hours of the night. 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



127 




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128 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



Heating by steam is very simple and 
if tlie water gauge is watctied lias no 
possil)le danger. Rise to a conven- 
ient heiglit witli your main pipe, drop 
from tliat to tiie time ttie condensed 
steam enters bottom of boiler again. 
Keep the boilers well down, and with 
four or five pounds of steam you will 
heat a large establishment with less 
fuel and less labor than by any other 
method. 

Heating by Hot Water. 

I beg most humbly to submit that 
using small wrought iron pipe in hot 
water heating is as much in advance 
over the old cast iron 4-inch pipe as 
the 4-inch pipe was over the brick 
flues. The 4-inch cast iron pipe will 
heat a house very well, and so did the 
stage coach take an emigrant from 
New York to Buffalo, but not as 
quickly or as cheaply. It seems al- 
most irresistible now we are out of it, 
to smile and partly shudder at the 
cumbersome old pipe associated with 
hands covered with red lead or iron 
borings. Portland cement, etc., lying 
on your back at some difficult joint, 
fingers hammered up, in fact a week 
or two of a miserable time. 

It would be useless to speak of the 
disadvantages of the large cast iron 
pipes. Just one feature, an alteration 
or addition to the piping, was a dread- 
ful affair. The general use now, at 
least among the commercial men, of 
the wrought iron pipe has made that 
important^ part of greenhouse con- 
struction an easy job, in fact a pleas- 
ure. Two years ago I remember as- 
sisting at piping a violet house 125 ft. 
long and 20 ft. wide. At each side 
hung on the posts we put three 2-inch 
pipes. The pipes had been resting un- 
der an apple tree for several weeks and 
when the man hollered out that the 
brackets for holding the pipe were on 
the posts it was perhaps two hours' 
work for one man. Four of us lifted 
the pipes, put them in place and 
screwed them together in just two 
hours. Of course there was work left 
around the heater and a few small fit- 
tings at the end. but fancy the differ- 
ence between putting up those six 
runs of 2-inch pipe and say four runs 
of cast iron 4-inch, with brick piers, 
etc. And how could you have got the 
4-inch cast iron pipes a foot above the 
violets, the best place for them? I 
will give it up, as it would be a conun- 
drum of which a solution is not a ne- 
cessity. 

A 4-inch pipe holds 16 times as much 
water as a 1-inch, but its radiating 
surface is only four times as much. So 
you have to heat four times as much 
water in a 4-inch pipe as in a 1-inch 
pipe, for the same amount of radia- 
tion. That is on the face of it over- 
whelming evidence in favor of the 
smaller pipe, but there may be some 
slight influences that bring these 
great advantages a trifle low- 
er than odds of four to one. 
Friction retarding circulation, you 
will be told, is an objec- 
tion to small pipe. I don't attach 
much importance to it, if the pipes are 



laid to a true grade. Then, they will 
tell you that smaller pipe radiates so 
fast that the heat goes out of the wat- 
er too quickly. So it does, but in ra- 
diating you get the heat into the 
house, which is just what you are af- 
ter, and with much diminished volume 
of water you can make it hotter with 
less fire. 

Supposing we acknowledge that 
there is some truth about the greater 
friction and the rapid cooling. If 
there were not, you have a superior 
system over the large 4-inch as four 
is to one. We will take off one-fourth 
and still the smaller pipe has a su- 
periority of three to one. Tremendous 
odds. To illustrate the difference I 
have taken 1-inch pipe, but that is 
rather small. The smallest we use is 
1 1-4-inch, and 150 feet is as far from 
the boiler as you should expect these 
small pipes to do good service. 

One more comparison. I have sev- 
eral carnation houses which are heat- 
ed with wrought iron pipe. Take one 
19 ft. wide. On each side on the post 
a few inches under the plate there is a 
2-inch flow running to the farther end 
and returning with five 1 1-4-inch 
pipes. They are attached to a very 
competent heater, and during the 
worst weather that house has not been 
below 45 ■ degrees. It would take at 
least three 4-inch pipes on each side 
to keep that house at 45 degrees oc 
the coldest nights. Let us see the 
comparative water and radiation be- 
tween the large and small pipes. In 
the large pipes, in round figures, I 
have about 72 inches of radiation, or 
864 inches to every lineal foot of .pip- 
ing. While in the smaller I have 
about 720 ft. of radiation for every 
lineal foot. Not quite so much, you 
see. But against that I have to heat 
in the big pipes about 720 cubic inches 
of water to every foot of piping and in 
the smaller pipes less than 250 cubic 
inches. 

Now, don't you think that with less 
fuel I can heat that much smaller body 
of water to a far greater heat? I am 
sure I can, and do do it, and if the 
water comes back cooled it accelerates 
circulation. I will assert that by this 
system the pipes at 125 feet from the 
boiler are just about as hot as steam; 
perhaps it is within a degree or two. 
There has been a most terrible lot of 
rubbish and theories ventilated about 
hot water heating within tw-enty 
years, mostly by men who never saw 
a good system put up or ever studied 
the law by which hot water circulates. 
Telling people that you can place a 
hot water heater on the surface of 
the ground and get good results is 
wild talk, and the overhead heating 
craze would have been laughable if 
it had not misled some. people. One 
scientist said overhead heating was 
right because our natural heat came 
from above. On that theory the gen- 
tleman should have taken w-hen chilly 
a seat on Pike's Peak with an icicle 
for a cushion, for he would have been 
nearer the source of heat. 
Some forty-five years ago, perhaps 



before, there was published in London 
by Hood a volume on hot water. 
There has never been a better work on 
the same subject since. We may have 
found out better and cheaper modes 
of applying it than prevailed in his 
day, but all the laws of circulation 
which he demonstrates so finely are 
just the same today and always will 
be, for they are natural laws, and can 
never be altered. Hood says that the 
circulation of hot water was well 
known by the Romans, and used for 
heating their baths, so this wonder- 
fully useful method of warming our 
houses did not originate in London, 
New York or Kalamazoo, 

Why the hot water goes out of the 
flow pipe and the cold water enters is 
illustrated by Hood by two vessels, 
each holding a few gallons of water, 
say two 6-inch pipes, each three feet 
high, with a 1-inch pipe and valve 
connecting them at the bottom. Fill 
one of the pipes with water the tem- 
perature of 50 degrees and the other 
at a temperature of 150 degrees, filling 
both to exactly the same level. Open 
the valve and the hot water will im- 
mediately rise to a higher level than 
the cold, because the cold is of greater 
specific gravity than the hot, and has 
forced it to a higher level. 

Now this illustrates the motive pow- 
er that first starts the circulation of 
hot water. It is the difference be- 
tween the weight of the water in the 
return pipe and that in the boiler. 
The water in the boiler being made 
lighter by the fire, the colder and 
heavier water forces it up and is re- 
placed with cold water, so it must fol- 
low that the higher, and consequently 
heavier, the column of water in the 
return pipe the faster will be your 
circulation. And it follows again that 
the faster the circulation the hotter 
will your pipes be, for the water re- 
t\n-ning quickly to the fire has not 
time to get cool. When your return 
pipe near the boiler is nearly as hot 
as the flow where it leaves the boiler 
your circulation is perfect. All of 
which goes to prove that the lower 
the boiler the better the apparatus 
will work. 

Reserve all your drop till you get 
near the boiler and then drop per- 
pendicularly down. This talk about 
giving the pipes a rise of a foot in one 
hundred, or the same drop, is all bosh. 
If the pipes were a dead level in the 
house it would be perfect, but it is 
better to have a rise or fall of two 
inches in a hundred feet because you 
want when emptying the pipes to have 
a drain out. Providing your boiler is 
well down, and that is the very es- 
sence of the whole job. it makes no 
difference whether you have a slight 
rise in the flow pipes in the house or a 
slight fall. But for several reasons, 
matters of simplicity and convenience, 
I prefer after having at once raised to 
the highest point over the boiler that 
from there on there shall be a con- 
tinual fall. Don't forget that one inch 
in a hundred feet, if truly laid, is far 
better than two feet, because you re- 
serve all your drop till you get to the 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



129 



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130 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



boiler. This is the most important 
point ot all. 

All kinds of boilers are used, in fact 
half the florists in the country have 
invented one of their own. and it 
looked a few years ago as if it was a 
case of "every man his own boiler 
maker." There are any amount in the 
market, some most excellent and some 
I have that cost a good deal of money, 
that as soon as I can afford it will 
be broken up and sold to "Isaac" for 
junk before they have a chance to 
cripple me by cracking on a cold 
night. 

Some people praise or condemn a 
boiler without a fair test of what work 
it is doing, and unless they have houses 
of the same dimensions and piped alike 
they can't compare one with the other. 
Now, I happen to have four houses, 
each 19x125, built exactly to an inch 
alike and piped to one inch the same. 
One pair of houses leads out of the 
shed to the west, and the other pair to 
the east. As before stated everything 
is identical about the two pair of hous- 
es except the heaters. They are of a 
different make. I notice the boys at- 
tend to one twice as often as the other. 
I also have noticed that a third more 
ashes are taken from that one than 
the other. The damper of the first one 
is frequently wide open -while of the 
other it is never more than half out. 
And it is also well known to my son 
that the one that takes the least fuel 
(hard coke, not gas house coke) will 
keep the houses five degrees higher 
than the extravagant one. And re- 
markable to say, but absolutely true, 
the economical one had a small violet 
house 125x11 tacked on to it three 
years ago, which is finely heated by 
six runs of 1 1-4 inch pipe and the fol- 
lowing winter it took actually less fuel 
than it did the previous winter. That, 
of course, was on account ot its being 
a mild winter. 

Now here is a test. I can speak of 
the relative merits of these two boilers 
with some authority, and it is only 
fair as I am writing for the benefit of 
my brother florists, to say that this 
most excellent cast iron sectional boil- 
er is "The Royal," made by Hart & 
Crouse, of tUica. N. Y. For that kind 
of lioiler it is about ideal, and the one 
tested with it is bv no means the one I 
am going to sell for $1.75. 

If I describe how the houses are piped 
it will be a better means of conveying 
my ideas than any instructions. Th" 
top of the boiler is about two feet be- 
low the floor of the greenhouse. It 
would have been lower could I have 
got sewerage. The flow pipe, a 3-inch 
(there is one on each side of boiler 
but that makes no difference), rises up 
straight to about 8 feet above floor of 
shed. There is an elbow on top with 
a piece of 3-inch pipe leading over 
close to wall ot greenhouse, and then 
a T with 2-inch openings from which 
a pipe leads to right and left, running 
over the door ways. 

Now the elbow on top of the upright 
3-inch pipe is the highest point in the 
whole system, and from that elbow 
there is" a very slight drop till the 2- 



inch pipes enter the house, one on 
each side, where they drop 4 or 5 ft. 



In the elbow is drilled in a 



%-inch 



THE 



pipe which runs up 20 feet or a few 
inches above a large tank which sup- 
plies the houses with water. The top 
of the pipe is bent over merely so that 
any drip from it would drop in the 
tank. From the bottom of this 150- 
barrel tank a 1 1-2-inch pipe leads 
down and enters the return pipe close 
to the boiler. Now. of course, the 
water in the %-inch pipe, which we 
will call the air pipe, is always on a 
level with the water in the large tank, 
and I think I have made out that 1 
have about 7 lbs. pressure from that 
cause. 

Remember it is height of water that 
makes pressure, not volume. There 
would be no more pressure at the bot- 
tom of a funnel ten feet high that was 
three feet wide at the top and one 
inch at the bottom than there would 
be at the bottom of an upright 1-inch 
pipe of the same length as the spread- 
ing funnel. How much importance to 
attach to this little pressure I don't 
know, but I am safe in allowing none. 
The 2-inch pipe passes through the 
shed wall and runs along the wall of 
the house about eight inches below the 
glass. The houses have a gradual but 
true down grade of two inches in their 
length and the flow pipe runs parallel 
with the plate. At the further end the 
pipe goes into a 2-inch manifold with 
Ave 1 1-4-inch openings from which 
drops a 1 1-4-inch pipe with elbows 
which start the five 1 1-4-inch returns 
on their Journey back. And they have 
a drop back to the shed of two inches, 
going into a 2-inch manifold again and 
joining the return pipe from the other 
side of the house go through the wall 
about, even, or just below, level of the 
walks, and then drop perpendicularly 
to bottom of boiler. So you can call 
this the down hill plan if you like, tor 
after leaving the first 3-inch elbow at 
the highest point it is one continuous 
drop, although for 125 feet the drop is 
not perceptible. 

\Wiy this is better than having a 
rise in the pipes to the further end 
is because you would have to put 
cocks at the highest point to let out 
air. or open stand pipes, or a small 
pipe tapped in and running up higher 
than the tank which supplied the 
heater. In the way I have described 
there are no air valves to watch, no 
feeding cistern to fill, no thumping or 
cracking of pipes. It works smoothly 
and perfectly and as long as yo>i have 
water in the tank your pipes are full. 
The big tank is no advantage and a 
barrel holding a few gallons, raised 
above the highest point in your sy.5- 



EXPERT ADVICE 

On All Matters Pertaining to 

Greenhouse Heating. 

HENRY W. GIBBONS, 

steam and Hot Water Heating Engineer, 
136 Liberty St.. NEW YORK. N. Y. 

C.NT.^LOGCE'.. Four Cents. 



SCOLLAY 

HOT WATER 

AND 
STEAM BOILER 



... FOR.... 

Greenhouses, Conservatories, Dwellings, Etc. 




INVINCIBLE. 



HEATING 

PIPES, 

FITTINGS, 
VALVES, 

TANKS, ETC. 

Plans and 
Estimates Given. 

Send Stamp for Catalogue. 



41 SIZES 



AND 



5 STYLES 



OF 



BOILERS. 



John A. Scollay, 



74 and 76 



Myrtle Avenue BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



The FLORISTS' manual. 



m 



tern, would be just as well if you kept 
it full. 

This plan can l)e extended to any 
dimensions, providing you do not vio- 
late any of the principles. Always re- 
member that hot water when circulat- 
ing will never go down hill if there 
is any chance for it to go up. So let 
all tees and manifolds be laid hori- 
zontally, so that where the water has 
to be spread out into several pipes 
there is as much inclination for it to 
flow into one as another. 

Mke the main supply pipes in steam 
heating if you heat many pipes from 
one or two outlets only, you must 
start off with a 6 or 8-inch pipe and 
reduce by degrees as the main pipe 
has less water to supply. The 2-inch 
flows supply the five 1 1-4-ineh quot- 
ed in excellent shape, but for a rose 
house thnt would take at least eight 
1 1-4-inch on each side, a 3-inch flow 
would be small enough. 

Where it is not convenient to carry 
the flow pipe up over the doors, but 
enter the house perhaps level with the 
floor and then rise up to the plate, or 
even continue along under the bench, 
the flow pipe would have a rise of an 
inch or two to the farther end and a 
corresponding drop back in the re- 
turns. At the highest point farthest 
from the boiler tap in a 1-2 or -U-inch 
pipe and let it run up to the roof any- 
where out of the way. This is much 
better than pet cocks, which are so 
easily forgotten, and the automatic air 
valves get out of order. The feeding 
cistern to supply the boiler can be in 
the shed and should of course be a lit- 
tle lower than the top of the sma'.l 
pipe, which is called the air pipe, at 
the farther end. Now, if the boiler is 
low enough this system will work ad- 
mirably and would be perhaps more 
suited for a private greenhouse or 
show house than the first system de- 
scribed. 

I have never had much experience 
with water under pressure, unless the 
pressure of our city mains constitutes 
that system. Our city water has a 
pressure of about 3.^ lbs. to the squaie 
inch, and my experience with it is a 
very cheap heating system for a store 
or office. Wishing to heat a flower 
store in this city, which is some 19 ft. 
by 80, I put a small heater in the cel- 
lar. It is simply .three lengths of 3- 
inch pipe, each about three feet long, 
and run into a manifold at both ends. 
The coil is resting on two 4-inch brick 
walls about two feet from the floor 
and is bricked over top, sides and ends. 
One end of this coil is raised about 
three inches and from it rising to the 
ceiling is the 1 1-4-inch flow, which 
leads off, and by the help of some tees 
connects with three radiators on floor 
of store, and from the other end of the 
radiators the returns drop to the lower 
end of the coil. There are two natural 
gas burners under this very simple 
heater, which in the coldest weather 
has never been turned on more than 
one-third its force. 

A 1-inch pipe from the city water is 
connected with the lowest part of the 
coil and the valve is never closed, so 



there is always a pressure of 3.5 lbs. 
on the pipe and radiators. The high- 
est part of the system is the top of the 
radiators, and in them is a pet cock 
which should be opened every day to 
let out air, but often is not for weeks, 
and in a radiator it is not of so much 
consequence. 

There is nothing more about it, only 
the radiators can be made red hot; a 
great success. If a strong fire should 
expand the water in the heater it has 
to find room by driving the water 
back into the mains. The whole thing 
cost less than $50, and $5 worth of 
gas was consumed in the coldest 
month. Now this system could be used 
with great success wherever you have 
a boiler that would stand the pressure. 
You could use it on either the uphill 
or downhill systems, but you could not 
have any open air vents, and unless 
you trusted to the automatic air valves 
,you would have to daily open the pet 
cocks at the highest point. 

I have seen pipes arranged in many 
ways, including the old 4-inch pipe 
system, put up by the experts of New 
York, and well they do their work, but 
of the various systems the one first de- 
scribed is the most satisfactory in ev- 
ery way. 

Where a considerable range is heat- 
ed with one boiler, although some of 
the cast iron boilers are excellent 
there is nothing better than a tubular 
boiler, such as you would use for mak- 
ing steam, only that you do not want 
the large space left that is occupied 
with steam. You want it all tubes to 
the top or it would hold too much 
water. 

I have said very little about ar- 
rangement of the pipes. Where the 
benches are away from the walls there 
is no place so good for the pipes as 
to be hung on the wall. The heat 
strikes the glass quickly just where it 
is needed. There is no strong heat 
near the plants, and there is a free 
ladiation not hindered by benches. 
Sometimes this is not possible, then 
the pipes can be laid under the bench- 
es, but it will much simplify matters if 
you can always let the flow be on the 
wall near the glass. 

I think overhead heating, so called, 
unless to a very limited extent, a great 
mistake. I have tried it to my loss 
and pulled it down. In the most se- 
vere weather you may get the benefit 
of the pipes over head, but in ordi- 
nary winter weather much of your 
heat is thrown away, and why have 
any there? Heat rises quickly enough, 
and if your pipes are hot the heat will 
soon reach all parts of the house, es- 
pecially the top. 

HEDERA (IVY). 

Till the intrtiduction of the galax 
leaves the ivy was of much importance 
to us and a large quantity is still 
used and possibly always will be. H. 
Helix is the common ivy and it has 
innumerable varieties and forms. 
Some of the variegated varieties make 
most beautiful pot plants, and if they 
could be prodviced cheaply enough 



w-ould make the best of basket and 
vase plants. 

The common ivy is not a success 
here out of doors. They will do fairly 
well on a north wall for some years 
and then we get a winter that kills. 
In Europe, dead trees, and live ones, 
too, and on ruined towers and old 
l)uildings you see the ivy climbing 
everywhere. "Creeping where no life 
is seen, a rare old plant is the ivy 
green." And Gray says: "Save that 
from yonder ivy mantled tower, t)he 
moping owl does to the moon com- 
plain." So the ivy must have crept its 
way to the top of the lofty tower, for 
it mantled it. 

The ivy roots easily during spring, 
and if planted out early in good soil 
will make fine plants by following Oc- 
tober, when they should be lifted and 
potted in 4-ineh pots. One advantage 
of the ivy is they will winter under 
a bench in a cool house about as well 
as on the bench. We use them largely 
in vases and veranda boxes and they 
suffer neither from heat, drought nor 
wind. 

To produce leaves for designs I have 
not found them a great success be- 
neath a bench. Although I planted a 
lot beneath a carnation bench in good 
soil, I prefer a wall where they will 
get the daylight, and such is generally 
to be found, somewhere on the place. 

HEDGE PLANTS. 

If you supply shrubs you will be sure 
to be asked to plant hedges. Some of 
our American cities have distinctly 
beautiful residence streets and the un- 
common feature always noticeable to 
Rudyard Kipling and less illustrious 
"Outlanders" is the absence of fences 
or hedges. There is nothing but the 
well kept lawn, the group of shrubs 
and tree.-i. or perhaps a flower bed, be- 
tween the sidewalk and the residence. 
There Is no finer specimen of this 
beautiful style of street in America 
than our own Delaware avenue, Buf- 
falo, N. Y. We would never be guilty 
of advocating any other style, but 
whether we would cr not there is a fast 
growing tendency to put up iron 
fences, or plant hedges, and when they 
are asked for we must be ready. 

We will say in defense of a hedg? 
that where an iron fence is used we 
think a well kept hedge behind it is 
an improvement. Or where there is a 
retaining wall a small hedge on the 
bank is a finish to it. Or where the 
lot finishes on the street with a ter- 
race we think a hedge is in place. And 
a well kept hedge can hardly be out of 
place anywhere near the street. But 
it is all in the quality of the hedge. 
We trust for the credit of our city and 
its pride, the residence streets, that 
stone walls or Norway spruce hedges 
will never be built to prevent the 
passer-by from admiring the trees and 
well kept lawns and flower gardens 
of our wealthy citizens. A good and 
happy life on the avenue is not fos- 
tered by admiring your own lot alone. 
You see in a month more of your 
neighbor's than you do of your own, 



J 32 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



and a resident keeps his grounds neat 
and trim and beautiful because oth- 
ers shall admire them, the knowledge 
of which gratifies the owner. It re- 
solves itself, like many other good 
deeds, into a species of selfishness; by 
doing good to others you have tickled 
and pleased your own self.. 

But let us get back to the hedge. 
There are mighty few hedges seen in 
our cities that are properly kept, eith- 
er of the evergreen or deciduous kind. 
The best specimens of hedges I have 
seen in this country were at Newport, 
mo-stly privet. And the finest ever- 
green hedges I have seen are in To- 
ronto, of Norway spruce. But the 
perfection of a hedge in every feature 
was a hemlock hedge (Abies canaden- 
sis) in the nurseries of George Leslie 
it Son. Hemlock is without doubt the 
finest and most perfect in form of all 
evergreen hedges. There are some 
terrible specimens of privet hedges 
scattered over our city and others. Be- 
fore they are three feet high a west- 
ern hog could run through them with- 
out disturbing many of their twigs. 
When like this they are simply an 
abomination. The fault is mostly with 
the proprietor, who insists on imme- 
diate effect and says "no, no. don't cut 
it down; I want some show for my 
money; leave it alone, we will trust 
to its filling out." Which it never 
does. And a privet hedge is allowed 
to run up two feet the first season and 
then be just topped an inch or so. 

Another reason for the poor hedges 
you see is that they are seldom 
trimmed properly. Let it be an ever- 
green or a deciduous hedge it should 
not be cut up square, and sometimes 
you see them worse than that, even 
broader at the top than the bottom. 
If they run up square how are the 
lower branches going to get equal 
light or rains? They soon begin ta 
lose their lower branches and then 
they are ruined. I would call a fine 
privet hedge one that was three feet 
at the base with the sides sloping in 
till the rounded top was not more 
than 18 inches through, and the hedge 
not over 4 1-2 or 5 feet high. The 
same with the evergreen hedges, when 
broad at the base and narrowing to 
the top they can be kept for years in 
perfect health and green to the bot- 
tom. Midsummer is the best time to 
prune evergreen hedges and they look 
much better cut with a knife than the 
shears. Hedges of deciduous shrubs 
like privet are best and quickest 
sheared, which can be done in early 
spring before growth and again in 
midsummer. 

In planting evergreen hedges you 
must begin with small, compact, per- 
fect trees; if you don't start right you 
never will have a hedge. The best 
evergreen for the purpose is first of 
all the hemlock spruce; it has a grace 
and droop to it tliat no other ever- 
green hedge has. Next the Norway 
spruce, and then the American and 
Chinese arbor-vitae. 

The deciduous hedges will always be 
moVe planted in city lots, and for this 
purpose are certainly to be preferred. 



The finest for most purposes is the 
Californian and English privet (Ligus- 
trum ovalifolium and L. vulgaris). The 
Californian was considerably killed 
this past winter. If a fine, dense hedge 
is wanted, a double row of the privet 
should be always planted, the rows 
one foot apart and the plants nine or 
ten inches in the row. For several 
seasons they should be cut back to 
within six inches of the previous sea- 
son's growth, then you will have a 
solid hedge that a eat would have 
diflicuUy in squeezing through. 

Berberis Thunbergii makes a mag- 
nificent hedge. Its habit is spreadirg 
and the worst treatment will not pre- 
vent it becoming dense and bushy. It 
can be either trimmed in formal shape 
or left to grow naturally, when it is 
one of the handsomest of shrubs. Its 
small leaves are always handsome, col- 
oring to beautiful tints in tb; autumn, 
and covered with its fruit. It is a mo-st 
hardy, easily transplanted shrub. 

There is a hedge of Pyrus (Cydonia) 
japouica here and there throughout 
the country. One I have in mind is 
on a retaining wall near the home of 
the late Mr. Parkman, the Indian his- 
torian, in the suburbs of Boston. It 
was in flower when I was escorted that 
way, and it was gorgeous. It is an 
admirable hedge shrub, can be cut 
after blooming to any dimensions, and 
is simply gorgeous in the early spring, 
and very hardy. 

Other tiees and shrubs can be used 
for the purpose. I have only made a 
selection and my chief object was to 
tell you that a hedge cannot be mads 
in one year, and will not do unless all 
parts of the hedge get a share of sun 
and rain. 

HELIOTROPE. 

This old favorite has possibly been 
grown as long as there has been any 
greenhouse to protect it in winter. 
All we grow are varieties of H. peru- 
vianum. It always was a favorite for 
our summer fiower garden, either in 
beds or in the mixed border. As a cut 
flower it has its delicious fragrance to 
commend it, but it wilts rather quickly 
when cut. 

Vou can neither lift old plants with 
success nor root the cuttings that you 
take from the plants grown outside, 
so you should always grow a few 
plants over summer in pots, and move 
them to the greenhouse before frost, 
when if the shoots are shortened back 
you will get young, tender cuttings 
that root quickly where there is some 
bottom heat. No cuttings root more 
quickly or surely than heliotrope in 
January, February and March, and 
your stock can be then increased to 
any extent. Young plants soon spoil 
if stunted in small pots, and to keep 
them thrifty they must be shifted on 
and occasionally pinched. For this 
reason you don't want a large stock 
too early in the winter. This is a 
plant that does finely in a mild toot- 
bed after middle of April. Thousands 
are sold in our markets every spring. 

You often see a plant of heliotrope 



planted out at the end of a green- 
house covering a large space. Such a 
one I have. It gets cut back to the 
main shoots every September, and dur- 
ing winter yields bushels of flowers, 
which are occasionally asked for. It 
also provides me with an abundance 
of cuttings at any time during winter 
that I may need them. 

Heliotropes are often grown as 
standards and are used as conserva- 
tory plants or plunged out in the 
flower garden. They certainly make a 
fine appearance. Say a bed of helio- 
trope of the ordinary sized plants, into 
which plunge a dozen of the 3-foot 
standards; or any other dwarf flower- 
ing plant could be the groundwork. 
They are easily grown. 

Choose a strong, healthy young 
plant, and without any pinching en- 
courage it to run up 3 feet, and then 
stop it, keeping all lateral growths 
pinched off except a few near the top. 
You can let these plants rest in a cool 
house with little water during winter 
and start growing again in March. 
The head can be left to grow naturally 
as you would a standard rose, but they 
look much better tied to a wire frame 
as we do standard chrysanthemums. I 
can't say that the standard heliotrope 
is a good investment tor the florist, 
but when time and space allows they 
are a great ornament to our flower 
gardens. 

Heliotrope is popularly supposed to 
be easily injured by tobacco smoke. If 
a strong dose is first given it does in- 
jure it, but after a few fumigations it 
does not notice it more than a gera- 
nium. Why should it not get inured to 
it? I have noticed frequently that it 
does, although it does not need any 
smoke. 

A rust is its worst enemy, which 
will not attack it unless it gets root 
bound and stunted. The heliotrope 
grows finely in a temperature of 50 
degrees, but will not endure the slight- 
est frost. There are constantly new 
varieties being sent out, a few good 
ones are: 

LE CID: Semi-dwarf, robust, large 
panicles, mauve, with clear white eye. 

LE POITEVINE: Great size, mauve, 
violet and azure; very free and con- 
tinuous in bloom. 

THE GIANT: Enormous panicle of 
bloom, color a rosy violet, white eye. 

CAMELEON: Bright blue, large 
panicles and florets. 

ALBERT DELAUX: Pretty varie- 
gated foliage, purple flowers. 

WHITE LADY: The best of the 
white or light varieties. 

HIBISCUS. 

The species we see in the green- 
houses is H. rosa-sinensis and its vari- 
eties. They are hardly a florist's 
plant, yet their bright, shining leaves 
and showy, brilliant flowers make 
them desirable for the private conserv- 
atory. 

They thrive in any good, coarse 
loam, with some well rotted manurs 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



J33 



added. They soon make large plants 
and need a liberal sized pot, and plen- 
ty of water and syringing when grow- 
ing. Their brilliant flowers come on 
the young growths. In winter they 
will do in a temperature of 50 de- 
grees, and keep on the dry side. When 
starting them into more growth in 
April, shorten back the shoots: the 
young growths will be all the stronger. 
The flowers are of various colors and 
are both single and double. 

The young growths root readily in 
April in some warm sand, but should 
not be exposed to the sun or too much 
air. 

HOLLYHOCK. 

This state'.y plant is seen in the 
large grounds of the millionaire and 
in the small piece of garden that the 
farmer or his wife devotes to "posies." 
It is handsome anywhere, and it is 
particularly suitable for a border 
whose background is a hedge or belt 
of trees. There appears to be an in- 
creased call for them of late. Some 
years ago the hollyhock disease dis- 
couraged many would-be growers of 
this old favorite, but little is now 
heard of the disease, and we have seen 
no trouble from it in several years. 

Hollyhocks are of very easy culture 
and few plants will pay for the labor 
with an equal amount of flowers and 
fine effect. If they required the same 
care and labor that a dahlia does, 
there would be less excuse for not 
growing them, but they do not. When 
once planted out, they will take care 
of themselves, only requiring one stout 
stake to support their main stem and 
tying as they grow. 

The best strain if allowed to remain 
without transplanting for fou.r or five 
years will deteriorate in quality and 
revert back to the single-flowered 
form. Little regard is now paid to 
named varieties, because the best 
strains give you all the desirable col- 
ors and the finest flowers; in fact, 
plants less than one year old give the 
finest flowers. Plants that have flow- 
ered and are carried over winter are 
hardy in our ordinary winters, but 
should be protected by some litter 
placed around the plant and a few 
evergreen boughs over them. 

Where the winters are not so severe 
seed is sown in May or June out of 
doors and the young plants trans- 
planted into beds, where they remain 
all winter in the open ground, and 
are planted out and sold the following 
spring. This is all right for the man 
with a catalogue trade, but is not the 
way to produce the finest plants and 
flowers. 

Sow in flats or in the cold-frame in 
early August. If you have no other 
accommodation, you can transplant 
four or flve inches apart in the frames, 
and in the three or four months of 
severest winter weather protect with 
glass, and transplant to their perma- 
nent position as soon as the ground is 
dry in the spring. Still better, trans- 
plant from the seed beds into flats or 



2-inch pots and in October shift into 
4-inch pots, keeping them plunged in 
the cold-frame till very cold weather, 
and then winter them in a very cool 
house. A violet temperature, or less, 
will do. Don't defer planting till you 
put out your tropical bedding plants, 
but get them into the border as soon 
as you can work the ground. The 
latter method is the one I have seen 
followed with the very grandest re- 
sults. 

Hollyhocks like a heavy soil, dug 
deeply and with plenty of animal ma- 
nure worked in. If the spring is dry, 
they should receive a soaking twice a 
week. As fine hollyhocks as I have 
ever seen were planted in a stiff clay, 
into which was dug a lot of cow ma- 
nure. They want a good stout stake 
to keep the wind from blowing them 
over, and sometimes when the side 
shoots are loaded with flowers they 
will want supporting to the main 
stem. 

Chafer's strain was for years the 
best obtainable, and is, I think, still 
offered by some of the leading seeds- 
men. 

When the plants are small, as a pre- 
ventive of fungous diseases they can 
be dipped into a pail of the ammonia- 
cal solution. 

The best strains now embrace colors 
from the darkest maroon (almost 
black) through beautiful shades of red 
and pink, yellow and pale straw, to 
pure white. Three feet apart is close 
enough to plant them, and if strong 
plants, more room is better. 

HOTBEDS. 

These primitive gresnhouses may 
never be seen at many establishments, 
and where only cut flowers are grown 
there is no occasion for them, but to 
the florist who grows an assortment of 
bedding plants they are of the greatest 
assistance. As is well known there is 
a number of our soft-wooded plants 
that grow much faster and thriftier in 
a hotbed than in the best greenhouse 
that you can possibly give them. 

The vegetable grower starts prepara- 
tions for his hotbeds in February, but 
tlie florist does not need to. and in our 
latitude the hotbed is of most use from 
early April on to end of May, and oc- 
casionally during summer, where 
plants like cyclamen want a little bot- 
tom heat. 

The frames are usually 18 inches at 
back and 12 inches in front, and for 
convenience made to fit thre? or four 
sash of 6 feet by 3 feet 6 inches each. 
When botbeds are used on a large scale 
and where drainage is good the earth 
is excavated to a depth of 18 inches to 
2 feet, and either boarded or bricked 
up to a foot above the surface. There 
is an advantage in this because the 
late frost does not cool the fermenting 
material. Wherever you have them 
let them be all together, for the larg?r 
the mass of manure the slower it will 
cool. 

The first requisite is some good, 
fresh straw manure, and sometimes 
that alone is used. If you have some 



dry leaves of the previous fall you can 
mix in a third of those, and if you are 
on good terms with the local brewer 
the spent hops of the brewery is a 
splendid material for the purpose. 
Hops heat violently, and should not be 
used alone, or the heat will be too vio- 
lent for a time, and will too quickly 
subside. I would call one-halt stable 
manure, one-fourth leaves and one- 
fourth fresh hops a fine mixture. 

You can not get all your material in 
one day, but when you have collected 
enough to begin operations the whole 
mass, whatever it is. should be turned 
over once into a big pile and thor- 
oughly shaken out, mixing the long 
with the short. When the pile begins 
to show signs of heating, then form 
your hotbeds. Lay out a space 18 
inches larger and broader than the 
frame or frames, and allow for an 18- 
inch path between the frames, but 
path and all to be built up with the 
manure. 

Build the sides up square and when 
making the beds one man should 
throw on the manure and another be 
shaking and spreading it evenly and 
continually tramping on it, so that 
when it sinks, which it will do as it 
ferments, it will sink evenly. If the 
material is dry, have the hose near at 
hand and every layer of three or four 
inches give the surface a good sprink- 
ling. It will prevent the heat being so 
violent, but will make it last longer. 

When the bed or material has 
reached a height of 2 feet put on your 
frames and see that they are straight 
and square or the sash won't fit, and 
above all see that the frames are not 
"winding." If you sight across the 
top edges back and front and they line 
with each other, then they are not 
winding. Continue to build up with 
the material till you are nearly to the 
top of the frame. Then throw in four 
or five inches of the plunging mate- 
rial. This could be sawdust, tan bark, 
or even sifted ashes, but for the sake 
of the hotbed material for after use, 
which is invaluable to the plant man, 
we prefer to put on four or five inches 
of some light soil that we have used 
for some other crop. 

Don't plunge any plants in the soil 
for five or six days, or till the most 
violent heat has passed, and keep a lit- 
tle ventilation on to allow the vapor to 
escape. When the violent heat has sub- 
sided get in your plants and the 
growth they will make will be remark- 
able. And so will the growth of weeds 
from the soil. But weeding must be 
attended to as all other duties. 

Only "the man who never forgets" 
should have the care of the hotbeds. A 
cold night is often followed by a 
bright, sunny day. and the sun seems 
to accelerate the heat of the bed, and 
if they ar£ neglected till, say 11 a. m., 
you run a good chance of having your 
whole crop burnt up, which has hap- 
pened occasionally to most of us. A 
little ventilation at first, and a little 
more in an hour, is the way to care for 
a hotbed. And close down early in 
the afternoon. With the uniform 



J 34 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



moisture and Jieat at the roots and 
the ammonia charged atmosphere, the 
growth of many plants is prodigious. 

When hotbeds are started early, say 
1st of April, yon should always cover 
them nightly with mats or shutters, 
the former much preferred both for 
warmth and convenience. You must 
not trust to the bare glass on nights 
of sharp frost. The surface of the soil 
gets quickly cool and then .lack Frost 
touches the plants, whose tops are 
very near the glass. 

The hotbeds are a great relief to us 
iu our crowded state in April and May. 
And more than that when the bi?ds are 
emptied the material is tossed up on a 
pile and chopped down once or twice 
(luring fall, and there you have an ex- 
cellent substitute for leaf-mould, with 
some ammonia in it. If not, its me- 
chanical conditior is what you want 
for all of your soft-wooded, and many 
of the hard-wooded, plants. 

HOY A. 

These hot-house climbers are seldom 
seen now. The days of short-stemmed 
tlowers are gon?, and hoyas are only 
found in the private collection. H. car- 
nosa was once a very common plant in 
our greenhouses, and w^ have all 
heard the dear old lady tell us hun- 
dreds of times that her "wax plant did 
not flower," 

H. carnosa and H. bella are the two 
best known. The latter is a beautiful 
but more delicate plant. They loot 
easily in the spring from the tops of 
the growths. If a specimen is wanted 
they should bs trained on a wire 
frame. They like plenty of sun and 
ventilation in summer time, and in 
winter should be given a rest by keep- 
ing rather dry and in a house at about 
50 degrees. 

Their waxy flowers, in fine umbels, 
are very pretty, but they are not a 
florist's flower. 



See Bul1)S. 



HYACINTH. 
HYDRANGEA. 



These are among the most impor- 
tant of our decorative flowering 
plants. Large quantities are sold ten- 
Easter church decorations, and later 
on large plants are in demand for out- 
side decoration. The hardy Hydran- 
gea paniculata grandiflora is one of 
the finest of our hardy shrubs. 

H. hortensis and its variety Otaksa 
is the common hydrangea of our 
greenhouses. The flowers of Otaksa 
are nearly always sterile, and from 
that fact arise their fine, showy heads 
of bloom. The normal color of Otaksa 
is a beautiful flesh pink, but it vaiies 
with certain soil, and in some parts 
they assume a beautiful blue color. 
Iron dust or filings in the soil is said 
to produce this. It so, it cannot be 
done with one season's treatment, but 
must be followed up from the time the 
plant is first rooted, 'When Otaksa is 
well colored its beautiful shade of pink 
can scarcely be improved by changing 
to a blue. 



All the hydrangeas can be readily 
rooted from the young growths in 
February and March, Old plants that 
are given a little heat in the winter 
will give you fine cuttings, and they 
should be short, stout pieces of tlw 
very latest growth, which root quickly 
in the sand. For early spring use the 
cuttings should be propagated in Feb- 
ruary, potted on till .lune and have the 
tops pinched out, when they can go 
into a 5-inch pot and b? plunged out- 
side on a dry bottom, giving them 
plenly of room between the plants. If 
they grow freely give them a 6-inch in 
August. 

After the first few mild frosts, which 
does them no harm, take them into a 
light house. By this time you have 
some chrysanthemum benches empty 
and can give the hydrangeas a good 
bench. Till the New Year they do not 
want any forcing, but after that if they 
are wanted for Easter they must get 
55 degrees at night, and increase it if 
you see they are going to be lati?. 
Plants that are not wanted for Easter 
can rest in a very cool house, in fact 
under a bench till February, and hs 
given enough water to kejp them from 
shriveling, after which they can be 
cleaned up, shifted, if necessary, and 
started growing. These will be in good 
flower about the end of May, when 
there is a good demand for them. 

I failed to mention that the earlier 
forced plants should also be given a 
shift into a t> or 7-inch pot when they 
start to grow at New Year's. Otaksa is 
about hardy in the milder parts of 
Europe, so it does not want anything 
but a cool greenhouse except when 
forced. 

Hydrangeas, especially the hortensis 
type, are great feeders, and should 
have a rather heavy but good, fresh 
loam with a fourth of decayed manure, 
and some bone flour added at the last 
shift will help them. Water they want 
in great abundance when growing and 
flowering, and if allowed to suffer for 
it they soon show it, and will show it 
later by yellow leaves. 

There is little tronble with hydran- 
geas from insects. You can fumigate 
them should fly trouble them, and al- 
though red spider will attack the 
flowers it should never be allowed as a 
daily syringing should be given them. 

Plants that have not sold should 
have the flowers removed by cutting 
back the stem to within a few eyas of 
the pot. Remove some of the soil and 
give fnem a shift and plunge outside 
for the summer. They will make fine 
plants for another spring. The prin- 
cipal object to attain with any of these 
plants is a strong growth in summer, 
and well ripened wood in the fall. So 
bright sun, cool nights, and a lessen- 
ing of the supply of water, are the 
requisites. 

When hydrangeas get into lU and 
12-inch pots they take up too much 
room unless you are assured of a good 
sale. They make magnificent plants in 
tubs for the lawn, but those that have 
. developed their flowers under glass are 
not valuable for this purpose, as they 



soon lose the beauty of their flowers. 
The best plants for this purpose that 
I have seen were wintered for several 
years in the basement of a. coach 
house. There was no artificial heat. 
It was not too dark, and with an occa- 
sional watering the plants remained 
dormant till it was time to return 
them to the lawn, when they came 
along naturally about the same as the 
hardy shrubs, and the flowers lasted 
the greater part of the summer. 

Some such place as this should be 
jirovided for large plants, as the green- 
house, however cool, will bring them 
on too fast. 

Some growers adopt a different plan 
with the young plants. Instead of 
growing them on in pots they plant 
them out in good, deep, rich soil, and 
lift and pot in September or October. 
I have often done this, and for late 
spring sales it is a good plan, but for 
the Easter lot I prefer to grow them in 
pots all summer. 

The kinds forced include Thomas 
Hogg, a pure white variety of horten- 
sis, Paniculata is also forced in some 
places, but we think we have better 
plants. There is a finer variety with 
purplish red stems and highly colored 
pink flowers, rather a tall growth but 
very handnome. H. hortensis Otaksa 
is the finest variety, giving the largest 
head of bloom, and forcing well. 

IMPATIENS SULTANI. 

This little perennial flowering bal- 
sam is not so much seen as it was a 
dozen years ago. Nearly all the year 
it is covered with bright scarlet 
flowers and is chiefly valuable as a 
bright flower for the greenhouse in 
summer when most of our flowering 
plants are done. It roots readily from 
cuttings iu warm sand, or can be 
raised from seed. A rather rich, open 
soil suits it, with plenty of water. 
Plants in 4 and 5-ineh pots ar? most 
useful. 

Being from tropical Africa it should 
not be kept lower than 55 degrees in 
the winter, but any greenhouse does it 
well in summer, and it does not want 
much shade. 

When plants get shabby from the 
want of a shift it is cheaper and better 
to throw them away, as young and 
thrifty plants are so easily raised. 

IRESINE (ACHYRANTHES.) 

These are known almost entirely 
under the name of achyranthes, but 
iresine is correct. They, with the co- 
leus, are the principal plants iLsed to 
furnish color to the tropical and foli- 
age beds. 

Their culture is so well known and 
so simple that little need be said. They 
thrive in any ordinary good soil. They 
have an advantage over the coleus in 
that they are not nearly so tender and 
will grow during winter when the co- 
leus would starve. Outside, though in- 
jured by the first frost, they will not 
drop their leaves when the thermome- 
ter gets down to 4U degrees, as do 
many coleus. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



135 



Vv'e grow them uot only as a Ijedding 
plant, but for our vases and vei-anda 
lioxes they are most useful, and do not 
monopolize the whole space to the sac- 
rifice of other plants, as do the strong- 
er growing coleus. 

Green fly attacks them if smoking is 
neglected, and mealy bugs like them, 
but that can be thoroughly cleaned off 
when you start a new batch of cut- 
lings. 

Nothing can possibly root better 
than iresine at all times of the year. 
We select a few cuttings from outsid? 
that are clean and healthy in Septem- 
ber, and from a few dozen of each 
kind a large lot can be produced bj' 
bedding time. A hotbed grows tlL?m 
thrifty and quickly and gives you a 
chance to harden them off. To grow 
fast for cuttings they should have a 
temperature of GO degrees, but will 
thrive finely in 10 degrees less. 

I. Herbstii is the useful sort we 
know as Verschaffeltii; finely colored, 
babit spreading and free. 

1. Herbstii aurea reticulata is the 
variegated form. 

1. Liudenii is more erect; narrow 
leaves, deep, rich color; a fine bedding 
plant. 

There is also another variety, or I 
believe a species (the connect name I 
cannot find) with smaller, rounded 
leaf, of a fine "bottle green" color; 
in contrast with a lighter foMage 
plant this is the best of all. 

JASMINUM. 

Of the several species of these sweet 
scented shrubs there is only one that 
florists cultivate, and that now is mos-t 
often conspicuous by its absence. But 
we all know J. grandiflorum. A plant 
that 1 can remember as long ago as I 
can think of any plant was a large 
bush of J. revolutum. which for the 
larger part of the summer was covered 
with its sweet yellow blossoms. But 
that was in the temperate climate of 
the south coast of England. Here it 
is not hard.v. 

.1. grandiliorum needs a temperature 
of 50 degrees during winter. The 
young growths root readily in the 
spring, and if planted out after frost 
is gone aud kept pinched they make 
fine bushy little plants and can be 
lifted and potted, and will flower in 
October and November. They can not 
be called a showy plant and would re- 
ceive no attention if it were not for 
their delicious fragrance. 

The jasmine is no more a climber 
than a heliotrope, but if you want the 
flowers the best way is to plant one 
out at the end of a carnation house 
aud in the spring prime it back, and 
during summer keep it pinched so that 
the flowering is retarded to late fall, 
when for weddings there is often a 
rail for it. 

I'nfortunately when asked for jas- 
mine for a bride's bouquet the sweet 
flower is gone, and again when the 
flower is ready the bride is not. 

Any good loam will grow the jas- 
minum. 



KALMIA. 

This is known among us as the 
"Alountain Laurel," and is the plant 
that furnishes the fine glossy sprays 
that make such admirable wreathing 
for our winter festivities. This is a 
truly broad leaved evergreen, but as I 
had occasion to remark under the head 
of "Hardy Shrubs," it is in most soils 
and localities very disappointing when 
transported away from its native 
mountains. Those who have never 
seen a mountain side covered with the 
pinkish white flowers of the kalmia 
have little idea what a lovely shrub it 
is on its native Alleghanies. It Is 
widely distributed. 

For an early June wedding (about 
the time it is usually in full flower) 
we have tried it in wreathing. Its ap- 
pearance is tine, but the waxy florets 
never cease dropping, which precludes 
its use when in flower. 

Neat little plants, well set with buds, 
are now imported from Europe suit- 
able for forcing. They can be potted 
and kept in cold-frame till time to 
start them in the houses. If wanted for 
Easter, give them six weeks in a tem- 
perature of 50 degrees, and near 
flowering time a little more. Though 
very beautiful when in full flower we 
do not attach much value to them, 
and nine customers out of ten would 
in preference buy an Indian azalea. 

KOENIGA (SWEET ALYSSUM.) 

The double form of this little plant 
is quite important to the florist whose 
business includes flower gardening, 
and particularly for the edges of ve- 
randa boxes aud vases. Sprays of its 
small white flowers were formerly 
much in demand for funeral designs, 
and plants were often grown on the 
edges of carnation beds where the 
flowers could hang over the walks, and 
I have seen whole benches devoted to 
its cultivation. As a cut flower it is 
not now so much in favor, but as a 
flower garden plant it is most useful. 

We lift a few old plants in Septem- 
ber, cutting them back, and from the 
young tender growths get lots of cut- 
tings, or young, suitable growths from 
outside will give you stock. During 
winter you can multiply it by cuttings 
ad libitum. 

Here is another plant that we flnd 
the mild hotbed suits finely. You 
should have a large lot in 2-inch pots 
early in April, when if shifted into 3- 
inch and put in the hotbed they make 
fine plants for use in boxes and vases 
end of May. 

The large double flowering is the 
most useful. The single or true spe- 
cies is always raised from seed which 
is sown out of doors in spring with 
the summer annuals. 

Tom Thumb is a very dwarf, com- 
pact form and is used for carpet bed- 
ding. Raised from seed sown in Feb- 
ruary. 

LAN TANA, 
A ganus of tropical evergreen shrubs 
having very pretty flowers, mostly 
white, pink and orange. They are 



sometimes used as greenhouse plants 
for summer decoration, but it is as 
flower garden plants that we use them. 
Our summer climate suits them finely 
and they grow very freely. They 
cannot be used for any set design, but 
for the mixed border, or even in a 
mass, they are very effective. The odor 
of the leaf is not at all agreeable and 
ihe flower for cutting useless, but for 
all that it is a very desirable, free 
growing and flowering summer plant. 
It is troubled with no insects or dis- 
eases and thrives in any ordinary 
compost. Grow a plant or two of eacii 
of the most desirable varieties in 4 or 
5-inch i>ots over summer plunged out- 
sir'.e, and at the a:.iproach of frost b.-ing 
them in and store in any house where 
the temperature does not go below 50 
degrees. After New Year's cut thes.e 
plants back a little and start in a 
warmer house, and keep syringed. You 
will soon have a number of young 
shoots, which root readily in our ordi- 
nary propagating bed. From the time 
you bring in the plants in the fall ti.l 
you start them growing, keep them 
rather dry. We sell Ihem in 3-incli 
pots, which is large enough, as they 
grow very fast when planted out. 

LAPAGERIA. 

This is one of the very handsomest 
greenhouse climbers. The pendent 
flowers are so rich looking that when 
a long spray of the plant is cut with 
its flowers attached nothing can sur- 
pass it in beauty. Such sprays wer-; 
seen at the Boston convention in 1890, 
being part of the decoration of the 
exhibit that received the first pre- 
mium for wedding arrangement. The 
flowers are three or four inches long. 
resembling a miniature inverted wine 
glass, and of great substance. They 
appears at the axils of the leaves. The 
leaf is rather small, dark green, and 
the stems long and wiry. 

They want a cool, shaded house in 
summer and will thrive in a very cool 
house in winter. A magnificent plant 
of the variety alba covers tlie roof (or 
did) in the glazed corridor at the en- 
trance to Veitch's nursery, Chelsea, 
England, and I was informed it had 
many times had to endure several de- 
grees of frost. It was then (August i 
covered with its magnificent flowers. 
Unfortunately, cut close to the stem 
the single flower would be of little use 
to us, and you would have to possess 
a fine plant to afford the cutting of 
flowering sprays. 

It is often grown in large pots and 
trained on a wire trellis. It is, how- 
ever, much better planted out in the 
boi-der of a house with a limit to the 
amount of room the roots can spread, 
I have tried it here and find it does 
not like our hot summers, so it should 
be in a position w^here you can shade 
during summer and give plenty of air. 
A thorough good drainage to the bor- 
der or tub in which it is planted is of 
first importance. A good compost 
would be coarse fibrous loam with a 
tenth of decayed cow manure, and to 



136 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



that add another tenth of old broken 
up mortar or crushed cha,reoal. 

They are propagated by Uiyaring the 
ends of strong shoots or from seed. 
Young plants were once very expen- 
sive. They are now obtainable at a 
moderate cost. When raised from 
seed they vary both in size and color, 
so fine varieties are increased by 
layers. 

Slugs will eat the tops of the young 
asparagus-like shoots, but cotton bat- 
ting will stop them. Tobacco smok? 
will keep down fly and thrip, and syr- 
inging, which the plant delights in 
throughout the spring and summer, 
will prevent red spider and mealy bug. 

There is only one species (Lapa- 
geria rosea), but there is a pure white 
form and from seedlings have been 
produced intermediate colors. It i5 
not a florist's plant, but yet one that 
any gardener should be proud to grow 
well for its aristocratic beauty. 

LAWNS MAKING AND THEIR 
CARE. 

A fine, well kept lawn is a source of 
pleasure and pride to the owner, and 
how unseemly it would be to see a 
fifty thousand dollar mansion sur- 
rounded by a weedy, ill kept lawn. I 
have remarked some years ago, per- 
haps only to myself, that the lawns of 
the temperate and moist parts of Eu- 
rope (such as Great Britain) were 
made to walk on; ours are made to 
look at. "Keep off the grass" is as- 
suredly more frequently seen here than, 
there. "The Emerald Isle" gets its 
poetic designation because the grass is 
green the year 'round. Ours in sum- 
mer, such as this of 1899, is brown in 
color, and for months in winter an 
"invisible green." So we prize our 
lawns, spend money on them, and pay 
large water bills for the privilege of 
frequently spoiling them, but withal 
I must say that for trimness and neat- 
ness and greenness in our cities our 
lawns will compare most favorably 
with those I saw in England fourteen 
yealrs ago. In fact, the latter were a 
disappointment, and badly needed the 
water cart or hose. 

Whether you use sod or seed to 
make a lawn, the ground should be 
dug or plowed a good eight or nine 
inches deep; the deeper the roots can 
go down in the soil, the less your grass 
will dry out in summer. If you can- 
not afford that amount of good top 
soil you should at least have the soil 
dug that deep, and into it work a good 
lot of well rotted manure. Break it 
up with plow or spade, so that the 
roots will go down into it. If for sod- 
ding, you should have at least two 
inches of good surface loam, so that 
the roots will quickly take hold. 

In grading a piece of ground you 
may have had depressions to fill up in 
some spots several feet deep. In other 
places you have had to take off the 
surface, leaving that part very solid. 
The filled up portion will be sure to 
sink, so it should be got down to its 
permanent grade either by ramming or 
by water. In small areas, such as 



where excavations have been made for 
sewers, there is no rammer equal to 
the hose. Flood it with water, if prac- 
ticable, and that will take it down 
solid. This is particularly true of clay. 
Obtain the best and cleanest sod you 
can, and here is a chance for you to 
pull out the dandelion and plantain; 
their roots are severed in cutting the 
sod, and it takes little time to pull out 
the tops with the short pieces of root. 
It is seldom we get sod that is evenly 
cut, but if the ground has been nicely 
graded and the soil not too solid, you 
can overcome that, and a good heavy 
roller will flatten down small inequali- 
ties. There is nothing more to do but 
give the sod a good soaking of water. 
In a few days pass the mowing ma- 
chine over it and you have a lawn 
pleasing to the eye. and if you are a 
reasonable person your eye will not 
see it as it is today, but will picture it 
after a month's growth and several 
cuttings, and your prophetic vision 
will be looking on something like the 
surface of a billiard table. 
. Where there is any quantity of lawn 
to make or renew, seeding is always 
preferable to sodding. Not alone does 
it make a better looking lawn, better 
grass and better quality all round, but 
it is far cheaper. The same care in 
digging deep and manuring is essen- 
tial, and the top two inches of surface 
should be of good, friable soil, that the 
delicate little plants may get a good 
start. 

You can, when preparing for seed, 
put on an absolutely perfect grade, 
whether it be for a bowling green, 
which is level, or a gradual fall to any 
point, or a pleasing slope in any di- 
rection. When I say you can, I mean 
you can if you have an eye and know 
bow to handle the rake, and you are 
not supposed to be leveling or grad- 
ing if you can't. Some men have a 
great gift at this kind of work and 
some are created to play "Golf" 
"Gaawf." 

In small, defined areas, when seed- 
ing it is a good plan to lay a strip of 
sod around the margin. Sometimes a 
bed for flowers or shrubs is laid out 
on the lawns. If a strip of sod, say a 
foot wide, is laid around these at a 
correct grade, they are a good guide 
when leveling, or what may be called 
"putting on the finishing touch" for 
intervening spaces. 

I may have rather an elaborate way 
of sowing grass seed, but it answers 
well. When you have finished raking 
and have the surface as nearly perfect 
as your eye tells you, give the whole a 
light rolling. You will see much plain- 
er then any little inequalities than 
when the ground was left rough by 
the rake. Mend an.v imperfections and 
roll those places again where you dis- 
turb the soil. Then sow the seed on 
the smooth surface. Next pass over 
the surface with a rake, not raking as 
if you had stones and rubbish to rake 
or leveling to do, but let the teeth of 
the rake pass backwards and forwards 
lightly over the surface. This will 
Just work in the seeds, or enough of 



them, for if one in a hundred grows 
you have enough. After that light 
raking pass over again with a light 
roller. 

Just one digression. How pleasant 
it is to see a man with his back bent 
(or your own) and handling the rake 
as an expert, for expertness can be ex- 
ercised with a rake as well as with a 
bat, a ball, or a billiard cue. Don't 
handle the rake like the interesting 
school marm -among the hay fields of 
her country cousins during vacation. 
Men that are expert with these simple 
tools and keep sober are never out of 
employment. ^ 

Sodding is done as soon after frost 
as the ground is dry till first of June, 
and again in the fall if the weather is 
not too dry to cut it. Seeding is also 
done in early spring, but not safe to 
do after end of May, as we frequently 
get a dry spell, and unless you can 
reach it with the hose it may be a 
failure. The very best time of the 
whole year to seed a lawn is from the 
last of August to middle of September; 
even a little earlier in August is all 
right. We are almost sure to get some 
showers the end of August, and if 
within reach .of the hose you are not 
dependent on showers, and if sown 
end of August or very early September 
yon have a lawn well established be- 
fore winter sets in. 

In fall sowing, which is the best, 
there is no need of sowing anything 
with the grass seeds. Sometimes in 
spring sowing a sprinkling of oats or 
rye is sown, which germinates quickly, 
and by its growth shades and protects 
the little grass spears till they are up 
a few inches. In a few weeks the oats 
are mowed off with a scythe and the 
grass takes care of itself. This, of 
course, is quite unnecessary where 
you sprinkle occasionally. Our climate 
is uncertain — no two seasons alike — 
but although I have seen many acres 
sown for a lawn in August which was 
a disappointment because there were 
no rains, yet it is by far the surest and 
best time to sow. 

There are many seedsmen, leading 
firms, who give great attention to the 
preparation of lawn grass seed, and 
when ordering you should say whether 
the soil is a clay loam or sandy, 
whether it is boggy or moist, or high 
and dry. Some grasses are more suit- 
able for shade than others. Most of 
the reputable firms charge a good 
round sum for their "extra superfine 
lawn grass mixture." Possibly it is 
not the seed that costs so much as the 
"extra superfine." for which you al- 
ways have to pay high, whether it be 
in a coat or cod liver oil. 

If I am asked to lay down a lawn, I 
just buy a good clean sample of Red 
Top (Agrostis vulgaris), and add a 
few pounds of White Clover, which is 
best sown separately, as the little 
weighty seed will find its way to the 
bottom of your bag or box and not be 
distributed evenly with the grass. The 
fine mixtures of the seedsman are all 
right and a few dollars is of little con- 
sequence in such an important and 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



J 37 



permanent undertaking as making a 
lawn. 

Most of the grass seeds are very 
light and will fly in every direction, 
much preferring the openings in your 
face to the ground. When there is a 
very gentle breeze blowing steadily in 
one direction is a good time to sow. 
You will soon find out then where your 
seed is settling and gauge your dis- 
tance accordingly. About 30 to 40 
pounds of grass seed is usually sown 
to the acre and 5 or (5 pounds of White 
Clover. If a small plot of ground, it 
is easy to know when you have sown 
enough. In most cases you will sow 
far too thickly. Neither in spring nor 
fall is it advisable to keep the newly 
made lawns mowed closely, so you 



idea of nourishing the roots you are 
mistaken. The fertilizing properties 
of the manure have passed through 
the soil while the roots were inactive 
and have not benefited the plant. 
With excessive watering the roots are 
often brought near the surface and 
at the same time continually sprink- 
ling impoverishes the surface soil. 

So one inch of good loam to which 
has been added V2 lb. of bone meal to 
the bushel, and this soil thrown on 
the surface of the lawn and worked 
in by the back of the rake just before 
rolling, or even after, will do more 
good than all the manure you can 
put on. Then you have given the 
grass something to feed on and you 




A well-kept Lawn. 



must waive appearance for the benefit 
of the grass, at least for the first sea- 
son. 

The care of lawns is something I 
have thought and talked about for 
years, for I am convinced that in two 
features our city and suburban lawns 
are greatly mismanaged. The only 
time our lawns want rolling is in the 
spring. Then they certainly need it. 
M^inter and heavy frosts have heaved 
up places here and there, and more 
than that, have heaved up the roots of 
the grass, much of which perishes if 
not pressed back by the roller. Roll- 
ing (and this time it should be done 
with a good heavy one) must be done 
when the ground is drying after the 
frost has left it; when it is soft and 
pliable but not wet and sticky. The 
mowing machine will do the rest for 
the remainder of the season. Rolling 
is all righ«, and if you have time roll 
often: no harm done. 

The practice of strewing stable 
manure on the grass in November 
with the idea of protecting it is all 
nonsense. It brings you a great crop 
of all kinds of weeds, and that's about 
all it does. If you put it on with the 



will see great results in a few weeks. 
Although an inch over the whole sur- 
face may seem burying the grass; it 
will soon disappear when moved 
about by the back of the rake, and 
after the first good rain you will not 
notice it. 

The other feature I object to is this 
continual sprinkling, and many of 
our citizens who have grass surround- 
ing their houses are insane over the 
matter. "Henry, you had better put 
the sprinkler on the front lawn." I 
have seen this done while yet the 
rainbow was in the sky, the effect of 
a receding storm that had an hour be- 
fore poured out its liquid gifts in co- 
pious quantities. 

The grass that suffers most with 
this idiotic treatment is that beneath 
the shade of trees and buildings. We 
know scores of places that are resod- 
ded or seeded every season, or at most 
every alternate year, and simply be- 
cause it is drowned out. "I can't get 
the grass to grow under the trees" is 
the continual plaint. It grows under 
the shade of trees in our orchards and 
so it does in our large cemeteries and 



public parks, and greener than it does 
in the sun, simply because the farmer 
and the park and cemetery superin- 
tendents do not water it. He has not 
time, and would not if he could. 

This continued watering brings the 
roots to the surface only to perish. It 
produces a weak, forced growth of the 
grass. What better combination could 
you have to wear out a lawn than 
keeping up a continual forcing of 
growth by water and then clipping it 
off short with the mowing machine. 

You will ask "What better can you 
tell us to do, for we are determined 
to have a green lawn?" First, if your 
la'wn has been sodded on a hard clay 
or sown on an inch or two of poor 
sandy soil, dig it up and dig deep, 
and put in lots of manure. If you 
can't do that and your lawn turns 
brown with a week of hot weather in 
June, then water thoroughly once a 
week and then let it alone. Once a 
week is often enough for any lawn if 
thoroughly done. And under the shade 
of trees remember that much less is 
needed. 

If a very dry summer a good soak- 
ing once in two weeks is ample for 
grass that is heavily shaded with 
trees. Unfortunately this, in many 
cases, is near the sidewalk where 
your man or yourself delight to stand 
hose in hand in your shirt sleeves 
and nightly pour ice water (for cold 
it often is) on the tender grass in 
hot evenings of June, remarking to 
every acquaintance- who passes: "Hot 
enough for you?" The struggling 
blade of grass would say, could it 
make you sensible of its desires, 
"Shut up and shut off and let me 
breathe in the warm night air; I am 
shivering with the cold and my feet 
are wet." In protracted periods of 
'drought, such as many parts have 
suffered with this summer of 1899, 
grass will turn brown. The poorer 
the soil the browner the grass, but it 
can be green and fresh looking with 
an occasional watering. And leave 
alone this everlasting and daily 
sprinkling. 

I should say in conclusion that all 
lawns, big or little, should be under- 
drained with tile or some other 
means as good. You can get on the 
lawn earlier in the spring and later 
in the fall, but more Important than 
that, it is better for the roots of the 
grass than land that is boggy and 
saturated with moisture. All lawns 
may not need it. but most do. 

The mowing machine keeps down 
all troublesome weeds except dande- 
lion and plantain. The latter perishes 
if the lawn is cut an inch below the 
surface. For dandelion I know no 
cure and there is a rich prize for the 
man who will discover some effectual 
method for its extermination. 

LBONIA. 

This is a very pretty little free 
flowering plant that has been largely 
crowded out by other perhaps more 
showy plants. It makes in one sea- 



9 



138 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



son a compact little plant from eight 
inches to a toot in height, with small 
shining leaves and profusely covered 
with small tubular scarlet, yellow tip- 
ped flowers. We used to grow it for 
selling in pots, but many a hundred 
we cut up and used in baskets and 
cut flowers. A greenhouse temperature 
of about 50 degrees suits it well. 

The terminal growths or the young 
breaks of the cut down plants root 
readily in winter and when planted 
out end of May in good, light loam. 
grow nicely during summer. It needs 
little pinching, as its growth is 
branching. They lift well in Septem- 
ber and by the holidays are in full 
flower. They are so easily raised 
from cuttings that plants are not 
worth keeping the second year. 

L. floribunda is the species we grew 
for years, but a great improvement 
on that is L. Penrhosiensis. 

LILIUM. 

This large and handsome gerais of 
bulbous plants give us a few species 
that are of first importance to the 
florist. All are beautiful and where 
there is an opportunity tor their cul- 
tivation in the garden few flowering 
plants can be of more interest. They 
are widely scattered over the North- 
ern Hemisphere and the majority of 
them are hardy in our northern clime. 
The mo.=;t important species to the 
florist is b. longiflorum. I will say 
here that there are several varieties 
of some species. The variated char- 
acter is principally difference of co'-or 
or markings of the flower. The lily 
that is known as L. Harrisii, or the 
Bermuda lily, must be a variety of 
longiflorum which the mild climate 
of Bermuda has through years of cul- 
tivation produced. There are certain- 
ly characteristics possessed by it suf- 
ficient to make it a distinct variety. 
The leaves are thinner and less glau- 
cous, the petals lack the substance of 
longiflorum, the flower is larger, and 
it is more easily forced into flower. 
Briefly, the plant has not the sub- 
stance of the true longiflorum. All of 
these traits are what could be ex- 
pected after years of cultivation in a 
semi-tropical climate, for excspt in 
coloring what is it that produces va- 
riations but environment? 

The following cultural directions 
are suitable for the Harrisii. Bermuda 
grown longiflorum and Japan longi- 
florum. except some slight differences 
which will be noticed. At present the 
Harrisii and what we know as Bermu- 
da longiflorum (the latter is the true 
longiflorum taken to Bermuda and 
grown a few years) are all imported 
from the Bermuda Islands and what 
with the disease and the tariff the 
bulbs within three years have about 
doubled in cost to us. Doubtless there 
are experiments going on and surely 
somewhere in our southern states in 
the broad millions of square miles we 
have, some place will b° found wh?re 
the longiflorum can be grown and 



ripened early enough to give us bulbs 
for Easter forcing. 

As soon as you receive the bulbs get 
them potted without delay. The bulbs 
are loose scaled, quite different from 
a tulip, and must be injured, by lay- 
ing around exposed to the air. We 
once tried (as a means of saving la- 
bor) to force our 5 to 7 inch bulbs in 
square boxes holding a dozen plants 
and about five inches of soil. It was 
by no means a success. They were 
very awkward to handle and tor soma 
reason not accounted for a large per- 
centage came blind. . 

We put the .5 to 7 bulbs in 5-inch 
pots, leaving the top of bulb about 
even with surface of soil. For those 
we want early, say for December cut- 
ting, we put at once on the bench in 
a shady house and after one watering 
cover the pots lightly with excelsior. 
It keeps them from drying out and 
does not prevent the lily from push- 
ing up. Remove it as soon as the 
growth is up an inch. Water sparing- 
ly till the growth starts. As there are 
few roots they don't want much water. 
Later batches of this size we put out- 
side in frames and there the few 
inches of covering is of still greater 
service, as the sun would daily diy 
out and bake the soil. Be sure that 
the frames you stand them in have a 
dry bottom and that water does not 
remain under the pots. 

I like to have the lilies in frames 
because if we get several days of co- 
pious rain, say in October, it would 
be altogether too much for them. 
And there you have at hand the means 
of covering them with glass. 

The 7 to 9 bulbs we put into 4-inch 
and treat the same. We were told by 
a neighbor that he had found that 
starting the bulbs In a 4-inch and 
after a time giving them a shift, re- 
tarded them two weeks, or made 
them later by two weeks than those 
put at once into their flowering pot, a 
t;-inch. We have not found it so and 
shall continue to put the large bulbs 
of Harrisii and the Bermuda grown 
longiflorum first into the 4-incb and 
after a growth of four or five inches 
shift them into a 6-inch, or the strong- 
est into a 7-inch. 

We find the smaller bulbs (5 to 7) 
the best to grow for cutting, for the 
reason that you can make a better 
bunch or vase of flowers with stems 
of two or three flowers and a bud 
than you can a stalk of say four flow- 
ers and three buds to open. 

The Bermuda grown longiflorum is 
now the favorite lily for Easter. It 
makes a flner plant and a better, and 
grows with ordinary care about the 
most desirable height, two to three 
feet. But it is well for church deco- 
rations- to have some of the Harrisii. 
for if they are six feet high many 
people will think them of great merit. 
It is not only at Easter or Christ- 
mas or Decoration Day that we want 
the lilies. From November on till 
June there is use for them. At wed- 



dings they are often a leading feature 
and at funerals they are in constant 
use. 

Although desirable to have a con- 
tinuous supply, Easter is the time 
when your main crop will be wanted, 
and every effort should be made to 
get them right to the day. Though 
the great majority of plants are sold 
singly in 5, 6 or 7-inch pots, there is 
always a good sale for a number of 
large pots, about a 9-inch, with three 
plants of Bermuda longiflorum. For 
this purpose we would only use those 
bulbs. Here is where the advantage 
of starting them in the 4-inch is ap- 
parent. You can select three plants 
that are all about the same size and 
degree of earliness, and it carefully 
handled in shifting they will be all 
three in bloom at the same time. You 
may have another pot with three 
plants not so forward, but they also 
will be in flower at Easter because 
the heat you give them afterwards will 
regulate that. 

If let alone in one house at one 
temperature a batch of lilies would 
vary in time of flowering a month or 
six weeks. It is entirely by moving 
them about into different degrees of 
temperature that you can get, say 90O 
out of a thousand lilies to be in flower 
the same week. 

We will go back to the 7 to 9 bulbs 
we left in the frame in 4-inch pots. If 
you leave th?m there till middle of 
December, which for want of room 
you may have to do, don't let a sud- 
den hard frost sweep down on them. 
Though almost or quite a hardy plant 
they have been grown somewhat ar- 
tificially and ten to fifteen degrees of 
frost without any covering will hurt 
the foliage and greatly disfigure them. 
I can speak from experience on this 
and would rather the lilies had little 
or no frost. 

If Easter is early you will want to 
bring them in by the first of Novem- 
ber. If three or four inches above the 
pot we then shift into the flowering 
pot and this enables us to fill around 
the stem an inch or less with soil, 
which is a help to the roots, which 
often come out above the bulb. 

We start in with a night tempera- 
ture of 45 to 50 degrees and increase 
to 60 later. I think a night heat of 60 
in a light house — and this is what 
lilies should always have till they 
open their flowers — grows them nice- 
ly, and can't be called heavy forcing. 
There are times frequently when to 
get the backward plants in bloom we 
have to give them 70 at night and 85 
to 90 in day time. Beyond that de- 
gree of heat it is not safe, for I have 
seen the young buds when an inch or 
so long just dry up. 

You cannot get your Easter crop ot 
lilies in without a great deal of labor 
in moving them around, and with the 
experience of years you will yet be 
anxious as to getting all at the right 
time. No possible rule can be laid 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



139 




down, as Easter is a changeable date. 
It is sure that if Easter is in the last 
days of March you will have to force 
much more than if it were the 24th 
of April. Be in time and before you 
move lilies into a cool house let them 
be opening the flowers. I have no- 
ticed that when moved, say from a 
night temperature of 60 degrees to one 
of 4.5 degrees, when the buds were not 
fully developed, they would stand 
about still. It is too great a check 
at a time when they need heat, but 
when just expanding, they can be put 
in a very cool house and if shaded will 
keep for two weeks after being open. 

When the lilies are a foot above the 
pots the.v want a stake or they swing 
about and often get loose and fre- 
quently break at the neck of the 
bulb. 

The soil we use for lilies is a good 
loam, to which has been added a fifth 
of old hot-bed manure, and we pot 
rather firmly. For the 5 to 7 bulbs 
which are cut during winter and are 
flowered in 6-inch pots we do not 
trouble to put any drainage in the 
pots, but with the 6-inch and larger 
we always use a crock and a thin 
piece of green moss. Lilies have to 
stand on all kinds of material and 
when this little precaution is taken 
they are less likely to get stuffed up. 

We frequently notice the tips of the 
leaves of the Harrisii. and sometimes 
of the longiflorum. turn brown for 
half an inch or so. Many times every 
leaf is so affected. The cause of it we 
don't know unless it be the effect of 



A Field of Lilium Harrisii in Bermuda. 

fumigating, which the. lilies need so 
much. Therefore we think it safest 
to evaporate some of the tobacco ex- 
tracts rather than burn it. The vapor 
cannot possibly harm anything, and 
it penetrates into the thick rosette of 
leaves which is formed just before the 
buds are seen. 

Lilies are much troubled with aphis, 
in fact against them it is a continual 
fight, sitill if the house is vaporized 
once a week regularly, it will save you 
much annoyance. The fly is always 
deep down among the small and ten- 
der flower buds, and if undisturbed 
will puncture the small bud, which 
causes that deformed and twisted 
flower. So in addition to tobacco 
fumes or vapor you should go over 
the crowns of the plants occasionally 
and in the center of them with a rub- 
ber plant sprinkler squirt in some 
"Nikoteen" diluted 200 times. This 
may seem tedious, but it need not cost 
a quarter of a cent a plant and will 
surely pay at that price. 

The Bermuda grown Harrisii wants 
a little more heat to bring it in early 
than the Harrisii. We never try to 
get the longiflorum in flower till 
Easter. 

The Japan grown longiflorum are 
now imported in large quantities. 
They arrive much later than the Ber- 
muda grown bulbs and it would be 
hard to get them in flower any time 
in April. They make good flowers for 
later use and if kept well protected in 
a cold frame are fine for Decoration 
Day. Last year we had two thousand 



in 3-inch pots in a very cool house tiil 
end of February, when they were 
shifted into 5-inch and still brought 
along very slowly, and by keeping 
plenty of ventilation on in the cool 
nights of April and May they were 
exactly right for the 30th of May, 
Out of the lot there was not a diseased 
plant So the Bermuda disease is not 
bad in the land of the Mikado. 

The longiflorum in good, well drain- 
ed loam is hardy in this latitude, but 
would be benefited by a covering of lit- 
ter every fall after the stems are dry. 
We have frequently planted out the 
plants of Harrisii that had been 
grown and cut at Easter. It a good 
piece of stem is left, so much tha bet- 
ter. Many of them will send up a 
flower stalk from which you will get 
a few flowers in July and August. This 
is all the use you can make of them. 
To force any of them again is out of 
the question. 

I know no cure for. or any means of 
detecting, a diseased bulb. It is to be 
hoped with a change of soil and care 
in discarding diseased plants and bulbs 
that our Bermuda friends will in fut- 
ure supply us with a higher grade of 
bulbs. One of the advantages I in- 
tended to mention in starting the large 
bulbs in small pots was that by shift- 
ing time you will be able to discover 
most of the diseased plants, and will 
not have wasted space, labor and soil 
on them nearly so much as you would 
in 6 or 7-inch. 

Lilium lancifolium (which correctly 
is L. speciosum) is next to the longi- 
florum most valuable to the florist; al- 



140 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



bum roseum and rubrum. They are all 
about identical in growth. They are 
not forced for winter or spring, but 
are very acceptable in July and Au- 
gust, when we are often short of flow- 
ers. With a covering of leaves over 
the ground during winter, they are 
quite hardy with us. 

We receive the bulbs (from Japan) 
in late fall and winter, and they are 
well packed, losing little of their 
strength in the long journey. We used 
to try these in cold-frames during win- 
ter, but it was not a success, and now 
we never fail by potting them in 7 
and 8-inch pots, three bulbs in a pot. 
Put them in dry loam a trifle below the 
surface, but do not water them, and 
place the pots beneath your coolest 
bench, where there is the least drip. 
It the soil is moderately moist the 
bulbs will remain seven or eight weeks 
without starting or making any 
growth. When they do start and 
have grown a few inches they must be 
given the light and grown on, but 
coolly. 

Any of the lilies, either of the longi- 
floruni or lancifolium, want little wa- 
ter till they have made good roots, but 
after starting they soon fill the pots 
with roots, and from then on they 
want an abundance of water. 

When the lancifolium lilies are in 
flower, and before they are in flower, 
they should be given the coolest house, 
with all the ventilation possible. It is 
midsummer when these lilies are in. 
flower, so if kept cool and shaded the 
plants will be stronger, the floweis 
larger and they will last longer. Out of 
doors in a sheltered and shady place 
will do for the lancifolium type very 
well for the last month. 

These lilies are much troubled with 
green fly and need fumigating occa- 
sionally. They have a most delightful 
odor, agreeable to all. 

The bulbs of Lilium lancifolium 
need not be thrown away. They are 
worth planting out in some good soil 
and will grow for years. We have also 
forced them the second year with good 
success. If you intend to do this, don't 
throw the bulbs under the bench as 
soon as the flower is cut, but stand 
them out of doors and keep watered 
till the foliage is gone and the stems 
are dry, when they can be cut oft and 
the pots stored under a very cool 
bench during winter. In February 
shake them out and repot and treat as 
those first imported. If bulbs are not 
received till March, then they can be 
given a bench at once, but little water 
till they start. 

Lilium aurcrtum, most gorgeous of 
all the family, has flowers sometimes 
a foot across,' with broad bands of yel- 
low and beautifully spotted, which 
gave it the name of ''the golden rayed 
lily of Japan." It grows from two to 
three feet and strong, healthy bulbs 
frequently bear fifteen to twenty flow- 
ers. We can very well remember the 
introduction of this magnificent lily 
and the sensation it created when first 
flowered. It has long, narrow leaves. 
I have never seen it here out of doors 
where it has been treated as a hardy 



lily, but with good care and in well 
drained soil it may be quite hardy, as 
large masses of it are perfectly hardy 
in Scotland: and plantings of several 
hundred bulbs are a rich sight. We 
treat it precisely as we do the lanci- 
folium section. It has a powerful 
odor, too much for most people, and 
this forbids its use as a decorative 
plant or as a cut flower in designs. Un- 
fortunately many imported bulbs make 
but a poor growth. 

Before the splendid forcing qualities 
of the L. Harrisii were known, and 
when the growing of the bulbs in Ber- 
muda was not an industry as it now is, 
we used to grow and force the beauti- 
ful Lilium candidum. Its delightful, 
pure pearl white spikes were in great 
demand for cutting, as well as for 
Easter plants. It would be useless to 
describe our manner of forcing (al- 
though it differed little from that of 
the longiflorum), because it is entire- 
ly superseded. It should be always 
grown wherever you have ground to 
grow it. It does well in rather a 
heavy soil and should not be disturbed 
for several years. Its beautiful flowers 
are always in demand when in season, 
with us end of June and July. 

There are no other lilies grown in 
pots for commercial use. Many spe- 
cies doubtless could be, but would not 
be profitable. Beds of L. longiflorum 
and candidum should be on every flor- 
ist's place. And if you have the room 
many other species are beautiful 
plants for the border. The principal 
thing to observe with the lilies in the 
ground in winter is that it is a well 
drained soil. A good loam overlying 
a gravel would be perfection, but any 
soil that is drained will do. In the 
absence of peat, which many like, dig 
in a few inches of very rotten manure • 
or rotten leaf-mould from the woods, 
and plant the bulbs when perfectly 
dormant. August is a good month. 
Plant six inches deep. 

In addition to the longiflorum and 
lancifolium type, these will be found 
perfectly hardy: 

L. canadense. orange, finely spotted, 
two to three feet. 

L. croceum, yellow, four to five feet. 

L. excelsum or testaceum, yellow 
tinged with red, tour to five feet. 

L, Hansonii, reddish orange, three to 
four feet. 

L. Humboldti, orange, very fine, four 
to five feet. 

L. paradalinum, orange with purple 
spots, five to six feet; of this there are 
several fine varieties. 

L. pomponium, bright red, two to 
three feet. 

L. rubescens, or Washingtonianum, 
white tinged with purple, four to five 
feet. 

L. superbum, orange red, spotted, 
four to five feet. 

L. tenuifolium, scarlet, dwarf and 
slender, but handsome, one foot. 

L. Thunbergianum, red, two to three 
feet. 

L. tigrinum, the well known tiger 
lily, deep orange, purple spots, very 
hardy, two to three feet. 



And several others, both species and 
varieties. 

LILY OF THE VALLEY (CONVAL- 
LARIA MAJALIS). 

We can remember pots of lily of the 
valley being grown in our green- 
houses in March and April many 
years ago. These pots (a 5 or C-inch) 
contained a solid mass of roots and 
were not disturbed or shifted for sev- 
eral years. After flowering they were 
stood outside and kept watered till 
fall, when they were plunged in coal 
ashes and a few inches of the same 
material thrown over them. This was 
growing them in a natural way, and 
a very great addition they were to the 
attractiveness of the conservatory. As 
a pot plant they are of little consid- 
eration. Within twenty-five years the 
flower must now be supplied the year 
around. 

When first lily of the valley was 
produced in the summer and fall 
months it commanded a most lucra- 
tive price, but nowadays at the close 
margin at which it is sold you must 
be successful or you had far Ijetter not 
attempt it: rather leave the growing 
to the specialist and buy your flowers 
from the grower or commission man. 

A few years ago in the columns of 
the "American Florist" appeared sev- 
eral articles from the pen of Mr. R. 
Simpson, who can not only write 
plainly and explicitly convey his 
knowledge to us, but has been one of 
the largest and most successful grow- 
ers of this dainty little flower, and 
though not copying him verbatim I 
acknowledge to him many of the im- 
portant details on growing now given 
in this article, and particularly the 
care of the pips in cold storage, for it 
must be remembered that while the 
winter is the natural cold storage for 
the pips that give us the flowers from 
middle of January to possibly end of 
May, the other seven or eight months 
we must depend on those whose 
growth has been arrested by cold 
storage. 

I never did believe that to put the 
original cases into cold storage and 
expect them to come out in seven or 
eight months and give good results 
was at all the reasonable or proper 
plan. When flrst received, which is 
usually in November, unpack at once. 
Large growers place them in trenches 
in cold-frames and between each row 
of trenches put some sandy soil or 
finely sifted coal ashes, and over the 
tops of the pips two inches of the 
same material. Small growers will 
find boxes holding conveniently the 
quantity they want to force weekly or 
bi-weekly more convenient than the 
first plan, because you can easily 
bring in the box containing just the 
quantity you want. When putting 
them outside the smallest and weak- 
est pips should be put by themselves 
and labeled and reserved for the latest 
spring forcing, but with those that 
are to go into cold storage it is just 
the reverse, and those which are to 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



141 



be retarded longest should be the 
strongest. 

Sometimes we find the roots very 
dry. I prefer to dip the roots for a 
few moments in a tub of water before 
putting outside. Let a frost come, a 
good, hard one, so that the covering 
is frozen, and no harm if the roots 
are, then put a foot of hay or excel- 
sior over them and cover with shut- 
ters to keep off rain. It is not well 
for the roots to be too wet. Glass sash 
would keep off the rain, but it would 
also raise the temperature on bright 
days during a thaw, and that is just 
what you don't want. These condi- 
tions will do for all the pips that you 
force during winter and up to the time 
that we get the flowers outside. But 
long before this you must have re- 
moved to the coid storage the roots 
that are wanted for summer and au- 
tumn. 

The time to put them in cold stor- 
age may vary by a mouth because 
the weather varies. They must be 
absolutely dormant when removed to 
the cold storage, and that must be 
closely watched. We have tried re- 
peatedly to store away a few thou- 
sand in our local cold storage ware- 
houses, and if we could be always suc- 
cessful with them it would be a great 
convenience and cheaper than build- 
ing one of your own. But it is very 
uncertain work and w'e have often 
blamed ourselves when perhaps it was 
the cold storage management that was 
at fault. 

Mr. Simpson at some length gives 
instructions how to build a cold stor- 
age house, but were I to repeat it I 
am sure you could not build one by 
it without visiting some one who has 
one and seeing for yourself "how to 
do it." The most comforting part of 
it is that Mr. S. says a cold storage 
house that will hold 400.000 valley 
roots can be built for $600. The in- 
terest on that sum seems very trifling 
when the success of even a quarter of 
the above number is grown. Whether 
you have your own cold storage or 
hire it, the conditions which you 
should try and preserve are these: 

Get convenient sized boxes, six or 
seven inches deep, line them with 
moist sphagnum moss and between 
the bunches of roots put moist sand, 
not saturated, and cover pips with an 
inch or two of sphagnum. To occupy 
little space you will have to put slats 
or boards on top of each box, so that 
they can be piled up one above the 
other. In renting space in cold stor- 
age this would be a great considera- 
tion. When flrst put in give them 10 
degrees of frost and in a few days 
let the temperature go up to 28 or 29 
degrees and remain at that. 

In large cold storage houses they 
have rooms at all temperatures and 
will ask you what degree you want, 
so the same plan can be carried out 
by moving the boxes. If when re- 
moving the roots from the frame to 
cold storage they appeared dry, give 
the whole box a watering before put- 
ting it away, but it is not well for the 



sand to be too wet or the roots may 
rot. Those small growers who hire 
the local cold storage for their arrest- 
ed lilies may as well put them in suit- 
able boxes when first receiving them 
in the fall; then with the addition of 
some moisit sphagnum over the pips 




Flower Spray of Lily of the Valley. 

they can be easily removed at short 
notice to their cold surroundings. 

There have been many ways of forc- 
ing the pip into flower. The English 
growers use ordinary loam as we use 
sand, and Mr. Simpson asserts that 
they (the English) produce larger 
spikes and finer flowers than are 
grown here, but does not attribute 
that to cultivation so much as obtain- 
ing a uniformly high grade of roots 
and being very particular that they 



are flrst class. A firm that grows 
annually six millions of pips, as does 
Thomas Rochford, near London, de- 
serves certainly to get the best there 
is in the market. Germany supplies 
them and is likely to supply them for 
a long time. 

In obtaining the pips get the very 
best you can. Don't be guided by any 
tacked on, absurd title, but find out a 
good source or good man and when 
you are well treated stick to that man. 
Unless you get a well developed crown 
that contains a good spike of flowers 
in an embryonic size your most skill- 
ful and faithful care will not produce 
a good flower. 

When brought in to foi'ce the tips of 
the roots are chopped off. They make 
no fibrous root while growing, but I 
don't believe the roots should be 
chopped off too short. So the boxes, 
if you use boxes, should be five inches 
deep, leaving the pips just above the 
surface of the sand. You can place 
the roots as close as they will con- 
veniently go in the trench of sand and 
three inches between the rows. Some 
growers place an inch of sphagnum 
between the pips on the surface of 
the box and when the boxes are going 
on the pipes I think it a good plan. 
Large growers who use beds of sand 
do not bother with moss, and under 
the conditions it is not necessary. 

I have gi'own fairly good valley in 
boxes placed on the pipes. Raise the 
boxes a few inches from the pipes by 
strips of wood. The first ten days we 
place over pipes that have a good, 
strong heat, then remove for a few 
days to over some pipes that are not 
so warm and a little more light, and 
when color begins to show remove 
them to top of bench, but still shaded 
from the sun. Always avoid wetting 
the bells after showing color, but be- 
fore that syringe frequently and water 
the sand daily. When lily of the val- 
ley is about fully expanded (that is, 
the top bells) it can be cut and placed 
in water in bunches for twenty-four 
hours. They travel and keep better 
than those freshly cut, as do most all 
flowers. 

Large growers (and this plan is bet- 
ter far than the boxes with those that 
want, say, from one to two thousand 
a week) is to put the roots at once 
into six inches of sand in the bed. A 
small, narrow house, with a northern 
aspect, such as you often see on the 
north side of an old-fashioned three- 
quarter span house, would be an ex- 
cellent place to grow the valley. Top, 
or atmospheric, heat is not of conse- 
quence, but one or two pipes on side 
of wall or path is advisable to be used 
in very severe weather. The bench 
should be boarded up back and front. 
If you don't have any pipes except 
under the bench have one of the front 
boards hinged so that it can be opened 
in very severe weather to warm the 
air of the house, tor in those times 
when you are firing so hard you can 
spare the heat from beneath the bench. 
In a section of bench in an ordinary 
house this is not needed because the 
house is always warm enough. 



142 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



The bench should be of roofing slate 
over which you spread half an inch of 
cement, all of which is a good con- 
ductor of heat. Mr. Simpson says that 
under the bench should be four 2-inch 
pipes or three 4-iuch. If steam, that 
would do, but better have five 2-inch 
hot water pipes and four 4-inch. There 
should be a 12-inch board above the 
bench, back and fi-ont, the front one 
movable for convenience in planting, 
cutting, etc. These boards should be 
high enough so that when the shading 
is put on it would be four or five 
inches above the tops of the fully de- 
veloped flowers. It is bottom heat 
tlyit is the great requisite, as we all 
know, and the earliest forced bulbs 
want about S.5 degrees, gradually less- 
ening the heat till in April, near their 
natural time of growing, 65 to 70 is 
enough. 

For the first few days, or till the 
pips have grown three or four inches, 
they are covered with wooden shut- 
ters which almost entirely exclude the 
light, then these are replaced by cloth 
shutters: cheese cloth oiled and fast- 
ened on frames will do nicely and the 
last few days these are removed and 
they are given full light, but no direct 
sunlight. I have often noticed in hand- 
ling valley that was in boxes that 
even if fully developed they quickly 
wilt if exposed to any draught. 

This same place will do for th? sum- 
mer and fall growing, but little bot- 
tom heat is needed, though shade and 
watering are the same. In summer in 
addition to the portable shading over 
the plants the house should be shaded 
and made as cool as possible. 

We always handle a good deal of 
the flowers during the short week they 
are in bloom out of doors, and very 
poor stuff it often is. A heavy shower 
will quickly ruin it. Every florist who 
has the ground should have some beds 
outside, planted with good pips. The 
beds will last for years. They should 
be made the size of your frames or 
planted in permanent frames. Then 
when winter was over you could put 
on the sash and with water and shade 
produce some very fine flowers and 
foliage several days ahead of the com- 
mon, unprotected stuff. 

It would be also possible with the 
aid of some ice and shade to retard 
your crop a week or ten days after 
the outside flowers were gone, all of 
which would be much cheaper than 
the most ready way of forcing the im- 
ported pips. 

Lily of the valley can never recede 
in public favor. It has all the attri- 
butes that appeal to the most refined 
and delicate senses. Its grace and 
simple beauty is unsurpassed and its 
delicate odor is loved by all. Even 
supposing you don't get more than 75 
per cent, of good flowers, then it is a 
more profltable flower to the grower 
and retailer than almost anything you 
handle, and there is no greenhouse 
where provision could not be made for 
its successful culture. 

Pans and pots of it sell at Christ- 
mas and Easter. They can b? treated 



just as described above, but a better 
way is to select roots with some per- 
fect flowers and foliage and put them 
into the pans when in full bloom. 
There is no fraud about this as if kept 
moist they last just as long as those 
grown in the pans from the start and 
win have a better appearance. I have 
never had any satisfaction from the 
imported clumps and would not ad- 
vise anyone to bother with them. 

LINUM TRIGYNUM. 

Some of the species of this genus are 
used in flower gardening. L. grandi- 
florum is a pretty, deep rose-colored 
summer annual. L. trigynum is the 
species that is sold for a winter bloom- 
ing plant. It is not likely to become 
very popular as a house plant on ac- 
count of its dropping its petals so 
quickly, although for the conserva- 
tory it is a most showy plant and is 
always in the best of order about 
Christmas time. When supplied with 
pot room and plenty of water it makes 
a shapely, rounded plant, covered with 
its bright yellow flowers. It is often 
attacked by red spider and needs daily 
syringing when in the greenhouse. A 
night temperature of 50 degrees does 
it well. 

It roots freely from the young 
growths in March and should be plant- 
ed out of doors in a light soil end of 
May. It will need constant pinching 
to keep it compact, and lifts with the 
greatest ease in September, Its flow- 
ers come in clusters at the axil of the 
leaf and although a flower lasts but a 
few days there is such an abundance 
to take its place that the plants for a 
month or mor; are extremely showy. 

LOBELIA. 

This extensive genus includes some 
very handsome hardy perennial plants. 
L. cardinalis, the Cardinal Flower, is 
one. They are best raised from seed 
sown in Augus^ and wintered in a 
cold-frame and placed in their perma- 
nent position early in the spring. This 
method is suited to a great many of 
our best hardy perennial plants that 
do not divide easily. 

The dwarf tender sp'ecies of lobelias 
are of most interest to us, although 
they are not of such value here as a 
flower garden plant as they are in the 
cooler summers of Northern Europe. 
In Great Britain some of the best 
flower garden effects are produced by 
the blue lobelia, where they can be de- 
pended on to flower all summer. Here 
they are very gay out of doors till per- 
haps the middle of July, when they 
will go entirely out of flower and your 
design is left with a streak of dark 
green in place of the brightest of 
blues. 

For hanging baskets, vases and ve- 
randa boxes they are to us indispensa- 
ble, and if not lasting all summer 
they add greatly in color when first 
used, and are not so much missed 
later as stronger growing droopers 
take their place, 



Select a tew of the best plants in 
September, cut them back a trifle, and 
before a hard frost dig up and pot and 
give them a light, cool place. With a 
little more heat they will give plenty 
of cuttings, and both from the old 
plants and the young ones you will 
get all the cuttings you want, wliich 
root like the proverbial weed. 

We like to grow them on hanging 
shelves, as it affords room to let them 
droop. We endeavor to be well sup- 
plied with plenty of lobelias in 3-inch 
pots with a thick growth eight or ten 
inches long and just ready to flower 
about middle to end of May, and this 
you can do from cuttings struck in 
February if pinched once or twice and 
given a good light shelf. 

L. Erinus and its varieties is the 
one most useful to us, the variet.v 
called speciosa being most in use. If 
seed is sown of speciosa you will get 
a number of varied forms, and some of 
those grown by us have originated lo- 
cally. A good, free growth and a fins 
blue flower is what we select in spe- 
ciosa. 

Paxtoniana is another variety of 
Erinus which is still more straggling 
in growth, with light blue flowers 
with white throat. 

The dwarf compact form of Erinus, 
"compacta," which is so largely used 
in Europe, would be the best of all for 
bedding, but it is not to be depended 
upon here and is not of any other use. 

Seed of the varieties of Erinus can 
be sown in January and by the help 
of a hot-bed in April and May would 
be large enough for bedding plants, 
but to have them in good order for 
our vases, etc., cuttings are much bet- 
ter. 

LYSIMACHIA.. 

There is one species, Nummularia, 
the creeping, little, yellow-tlowered 
"Money Vine," or moneywort, that be- 
sides being one of our best hardy rock- 
work plants is with us a standard so- 
called vine for baskets and vases. Its 
long, pendant growth is just what we 
want for that purpose. For cultivation 
see Glechoma. 

Don't attempt to take it into the 
greenhouse in any shape in the fall, or 
it will get rusty and be useless. To 
thrive it must have its freeze-up dur- 
ing the few hard winter months. 

MANETTIA. 

All the species are climbers, and 
used on trellises they make good 
summer vines in situaTions that have 
a sheltered, sunny exposure. They are 
not a prominent commercial plant, but 
we occasionally are asked for them. 
They root very easily during winter 
from tender tips of the growth, and 
will grow in any good loam. The 
flowers are tubular, freely produced 
and attractive. 

The species are: M. bicolor, scarlet 
with yellow tip: M. coccinea, white 
tube spotted with red, yellow throat; 
M. cordifolia, scarlet; M. micans, or- 
ange; this species is more suited for 
inside, 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



143 




Martinezia Ca'-yc.taefolia. 



MARANTA. 



These very ornamental leaved hot- 
house plants are now known botanic- 
ally as calathea, but it is not likely 
that we shall ever know them com- 
mercially as anything but marantas. 
There are many species, all from trop- 
ical America, entirely grown for their 
handsome leaves. They have creep- 
ing rliizomes and when shaken out the 
roots can be readily divided. June' 
and July is a good time for this oper- 
ation. Some of the smaller growing 
species mak? beautiful phants for table 
decoration or for the larger ferneries, 
but they do not thrive long in the dry 
air of a living room. It is as fine plants 
for the hot-house that they are chief- 
ly cultivated. 

The essential to grow a fine plant is 
a good coarse loam, to which can be 
added a fifth of well decayed manure, 
and some sand to keep the soil open. 
As when growing thej' want abun- 
dance of water and syringing there 
should be ample drainage to let water 
pass freely through. In a shaded, 
sheltered place they will do out of 
doors, but are far better suited in a 
shaded house where there is abun- 
dance of moisture. In winter they 
will do in a temperature of 60 degrees, 
but as they are evergreen they must 
not get dry, only a less quantity of 
water. For a full development of their 
velvety leaves they should every two 
or three years be. shaken out and di- 



vided or their roots and crowns get 
very crowded. 

There are so many species that it is 
unnecessary to single out any of them. 
All are handsome and there is a range 
in size from the diminutive M. micans, 
with glittering leaves two to three 
inches long, to M. zebrina, with leaves 
three feet long and eight inches broad. 
Every gardener will remember this old 
species, probably one of the first intro- 
duced. Here is a description of M. 
Veitchii, from Nicholson's Dictionary 
of Gardening: 

"Leaves large, ovate elliptic, over 
one foot long, very rich, glossy green, 
marked along each side the mid-rib 
with crescent-shaped blotches of yel- 
low, softened by shades of green and 
white: under surface light purple. 
Height of plant three feet. Introduced 
in ISGG from west tropical America. 
Probably the handsomest of the ge- 
nus." 

But there are any number of other 
species with various beautiful mark- 
ings, and none difficult to grow where 
heat, moisture, a porous soil and 
shade in summer can be given. 

MARTINEZIA. 

M. caryotaefolia, a young plant of 
which is illustrated, is one of a small 
family of rather slender growing 
South American palms, the species in 
question having been found in parts of 
Peru and also New Granada. Though 



this species has been in cultivation 
since 1845, it is not now largely grown, 
but few seeds being offered in the 
market. 

The martinezia also possesses a dis- 
advantage in being so abundantly pro- 
vided with long and sharp spines, not 
only the stems, but also the backs of 
the leaves being armed with these 
needlelike protectors, and nearly all 
plants having this characteristic re- 
ceive but scanty attention from the 
general public, and especially so if the 
price is held above the average. 

Martinezia caryotaefolia may be de- 
scribed in a general way as bearing 
some resemblance to Caryota urens, 
except that the latter is without 
spines, but the peculiarly wedge- 
shaped pinnae of the martinezia are 
arranged in irregular groups along the 
leaf stem, there being frequently from 
six to ten inches of bare stem between 
these groups of pinnae on a large 
leaf. The general color of the leaves 
is deep green, and the habit of the 
plant very graceful. 

This palm is not specially subject to 
the attacks of insects, but if scale in- 
sects are allowed to infest it they are 
likely to fix themselves along the 
stems among the thorns, where it is 
very difficult to dislodge them. In fact, 
with any of the very spiny palms it 
becomes a severe test of patience to 
eradicate scale, and the use of strong 
insecticides can hardly be recom- 
mended in such a case, an experience 
with kerosene emulsion some years 
ago on both martinezias and daemono- 
rops having proved disastrous. 

Regarding the cultural requirements 
of martinezias it may be said that they _ 
belong among the warm house palms, ' 
and will flourish under saitable con- 
ditions for Areca lutescens, that is, 
temperature of 05 to 70 degrees, mod- 
erate shading and abundant moisture. 

M. caryotaefolia is said to bear ex- 
posure very well as a plant for house 
decoration, but I have not seen it 
tested tor such use, though a good 
sized plant of this species would un- 
doubtedly be a very effective single 
specimen to be placed on a pedestal, 
where its spines would be out of reach 
of the passer-by. W. H. T. 

MAURANDYA. 

These are useful to us for summer 
climbers and thrive in our hottest 
suns. M. Barclayana is best sown in 
early March in a heat of about 55 to 
60 degrees. When large enough to 
handle pot into 2-inch. In this size 
they are large enough for our baskets, ,. 
but if wanted for outside climbing can. ,,^ 
be shifted into 3-inch and must have,.,. 
a small stake or they get sadly tan-,,,, 
gled up. They make a very quick ,. 
growth and cover quickly a small trel-. 
lis. The flower is not conspicuous, 
being of a greenish color, about two 
inches long. 

M. scandens. often called Lopho- 
spermum scandens, is a larger leaved, 
stronger growing climber, and one of 
the very best vines for our vases. The 
flowers are pinkish violet, This can 



144 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



be raised from seed precisely as we 
do M. Barclayana, but we prefer to 
take a few cuttings from outside plants 
in the fall and grow on during win- 
ter. It roots easily from any part of 
the growth and by this means we get 
much more serviceable plants for use 
in large vases and veranda boxes. 
They winter very well in 50 degrees, 
but grow faster, when you want to 
propagate, in 60 degrees. 

METROSIDEROS (BOTTLE BRUSH 
PLANT). 

This is one of the many hard-wood- 
ed evergreen shrubs that we get from 
the Southern Pacific islands. The spe- 
cies we import is M. robusta, and its 
peculiar, terminal, densely flowered 



tractive, and a limited number find a 
ready sale. 

When they arrive soak the ball and 
then pot firmly and put in a house at 
about 4.5 degrees. To bring them in 
for Easter you must watch them and 
gradually give them more heat, but 
not suddenly. Freshly imported 
plants if forced in much heat, as you 
can an azalea, will shed their flowers. 

Plants unsold the first spring will 
be much better and more satisfactory 
the second year. End of April cut 
them back to within an inch or two 
of the old growth and put them into 
a good heat and keep syringed. They 
will make a bushy growth with a num- 
ber of shoots. Early in June plunge 
them out in the broad sun, well cov- 
ering their pots, and in the hot weath- 




Bottle Brush ( Mctrosider os ) trimmed with crimson ribbon, in celluloid basket. 



spike is so like in form to a bottle 
brush that the popular name is often 
suggested by people who have never 
heard it. It has been for many years 
grown as a cool greenhouse plant, but 
only within a dozen years have the 
Europeans been sending us the little, 
compact bushes that now arrive with 
our azaleas. The Belgians grow it in 
peat as they do most hard-wooded 
plants, but it does very well in good 
turfy loam with a fourth of leaf-mold. 
It will root from the young growths 
in early spring, which can be planted 
out in good soil end of May. But with 
tariff included we can get fine plants 
landed here at a cost that it would be 
impossible to grow them as good for 
the same money. 

You don't want a great many of 
them; about one to every ten Azalea 
indica you grow. Plants in 6-inch 
pots, well flowered and fixed up with 
a red ribbon, do look novel and at- 



er don't let them suffer for water. In 
July or earlier mulch the surface of 
the pots with an inch of half decom- 
posed cow manure: this will add 
greatly to their robustness. Bring in 
before any danger of frost and keep 
in a temperature of 4.5 degrees; warm- 
er if you want them earlier than East- 
er. These will be far better plants 
and be much more satisfactory to the 
purchaser than the newly imported. 

MIGNONETTE (RESEDA 
ODORATA). 

It is doubtful if there is any plant 
so universally known or better liked 
than the mignonette. 

The florist sows it in his garden as 
soon as the ground is dry, and makes 
another sowing later, in shallow drills 
in deep, rich soil. If continuous cut- 
ting is expected the plants should be 
thinned out to a few Inches apart and 
watered in dry weather. 



As a cut flower in winter it is a 
staple article and for that purpose is 
grown, good, bad and indifferent. To 
obtain fine spikes that sell by the 
dozen or hundred it must have a suit- 
able place and room to grow. 

A solid bed in a light house would 
without doubt be the best place, but 
it can be grown on a bench in five or 
six inches of soil, very well. The soil 
should be a heavy loam with a fourth 
of rotten cow manure. A bench where 
the heat of the pipes would be felt 
would not be good as the roots like a 
cool bottom. 

Sow early in August. We put a few- 
seeds in a spot, about one foot apart, 
and when an inch high thin out to the 
strongest plant. When a few inches 
high they will branch from the bot- 
tom and four or five of the strongest 
side shoots can be selected; after that 
keep lateral growths off both the main 
spike and the side growths, If grown 
cool it will not want any staking, but 
if it should it is easily done, as one 
small stake would support several 
spikes. 

This mignonette, whether grown for 
cutting or for pots, must have the 
fullest possible light and air on all 
permissible occasions. Light and air 
and a cool temperature will just make 
the difference between stout, heavy 
spikes and thin, spindling ones. You 
ought to get a good cutting at the 
holidays and another at Easter. In 
fact after Christmas you can always 
cut good spikes. The night tempera- 
ture should never be over 50 degrees, 
and I should prefer it when heavy fir- 
ing is going on to be only 45 degrees. 

There are few plants that will fill 
the bill more acceptably for an inex- 
pensive Easter gift than a well grown 
mignonette. A 4-inch pot will grow 
a nice plant, but a 5-inch is much bet- 
ter. For this purpose sow not later 
than end of August, Sow in the same 
pots that they are to be sold in. I 
have been quite successful shifting 
them from a small pot, and also un- 
successful. The former is much the 
safest plan. 

Put a crock and a piece of green 
moss in the bottom of the pot and fill 
up solidly with good, fresh loam with 
a fourth of cow manure; make the 
soil quite solid. Sow a number of 
seeds on the surface and cover light- 
ly. When well up thin out to three 
strong plants equal distances apart. 
We pinch the leading shoot out of 
these plants, which will give you nine 
or ten nice spikes, which is better 
than three or four large ones. Keep 
them in just such a house as you do 
those growing for cutting and if any 
preference keep in the coolest end. 

If showing fiower too soon stop 
them, but they should not be pinched 
for twelve weeks before you want to 
sell them. A neat stake would be 
needed for these pots, and perhaps 
three small stakes is better, just to 
hold the branches from breaking. 
Don't attempt to grow mignonette in 
a dark, ill ventilated house; you will 
only get weak, spindling stuff. Like 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



U5 




Bench of Mignonette. 



many other plants the more perfect 
the light and the more you can give 
air the less you will hurt with a high- 
er temperature. 

Mignonette does not like transplant- 
ing; that is why they are sown on 
the bench where they are to grow, and 
in pots in wliich they are to flower. 

Simple as this plant is to sow out- 
side as a hardy annual, we always sell 
a good many plants with other sum- 
mer flowering plants. For this pur- 
pose we sow a number of seeds in 3- 
inch pots on some liglit bench in early 
March. Later we thin out to three or 
four of the strongest and in April 
plunge them in a mild hot-bed, where 
by middle of May they are strong, 
thrifty plants. 

When the mignonette plants are 
quite small you must watch out for 
slugs and wood-lice, both of which 
relish them as fine salad. If you see 
the small yellow butterfly in your 
mignonette house in August or Sep- 
tember get your double-barreled, ham- 
merless Parker shotgun, or your hat, 
and annihilate him, or rather her. She 
flits over the plants depositing a small 
green egg, which quickly evolves into 
the green worm, the cabbage worm, 
which will, if unmolested, soon chew 
up your young mignonette. 

I have never noticed that tobacco 
smoke did any harm to the mignon- 
ette, nor does it need it much. If it 
gets over the slugs, wood-lice and 
worms there is no trouble ahead. 

You ought to select the finest spikes 
and save your own seed. The strain 
we grow was obtained from Mr. John 
N. May some years ago, and by selec- 
tion it is better than when first ob- 
tained. But mignonette is very like 
asparagus; it is the growing and rich, 
heavy soil that makes the giant or 
colossal qualities; any of the strains 
are good when well grown. Besides 
new advertised strains, some standard 



ones are; Bird's Mammoth, Miles' Hy- 
brid Spiral, Machet, Golden Queen and 
Machet's Perfection. 

MIMULUS. 

As a boy we thought there were very 
few plants so beautiful as M. luteus 
(Monkey Flower). We don't think so 
now, but its yellow and spotted flower 
is very attractive. Our hot summers 
do not suit it planted out. It is often 
treated as an annual and can be raised 
from seed sown in early spring. Or it 
can be kept over winter and propa- 
gated by cuttings. In a shaded, moist 
place it will do well planted out, and 
in a liberal sized pot in a cool house it 
would thrive, and when well grown its 
showy flowers will sell it. 

M. moschatus is the common musk 
plant, which in some cities is a great 
market plant, but in many of our cities 
is scarcely ever seen. It also likes to 
be away from the hot sun. Good light 
soil and partial shade and moisture 
suit it well. It can be raised from 
seed, which is very small and needs no 
covering, but it is a perennial, and if 
you have a few plants carried over 
winter as dormant roots you can 
shake them out in early March and 
start growing in a warm greenhouse. 
As they grow- small pieces can be 
taken and two or three of them put 
round the edge of a three or four-inch 
pot, which they will soon cover with 
their fast creeping growth. In this 
way you can rapidly make any number 
of salable pots. They never want the 
cutting bed. 

MOON FLOWER (IPOMOEA BONA 
NOX OR NOCTIFLORA). 

This is one of the many evergreen 
ipomaeas that make us a splendid 
summer climber. We have seen pic- 
tures of windmills in Georgia where 



the moon flower had grown to a height 
of 75 feet. There are many of these 
ipomaeas that make fine climbers for 
the conservatory and hothouse, and 
doubtless could be used out of doors in 
our summers, but the moon flower is 
known by all. 

There is the grandiflora type of 
moon flower with blossoms six to 
seven inches across, and an improved 
kind with small flowers, but flowering 
earlier in the summer. They should 
not be planted out till danger of frost 
is past, but as they are always against 
a fence or trellis can be easily pro- 
tected from late frosts. 

They are easily raised from seed 
sown in the greenhouse in March, but 
a few cuttings can be taken from the 
small side shoots in September, which 
root readily. When rooted don't try 
to grow them fast till early spring, 
when with more heat they will quick- 
ly grow and can be increased by cut- 
tings. 

There is nothing that surpasses the 
moon flower for rapidity of growth. 
It makes a perfectly dense screen, and 
in the evening and until 10 or 11 
o'clock in the morning is studded with 
its noble flowers. 

MULCHING. 

This garden term may be new to 
some beginners, but it represents 
some very important operations in our 
business. 

In plants in pots it means with 
those plunged outside in summer, 
such as azaleas, acacias, hardy roses, 
etc., that an inch or less of manure 
and soil, or all manure, is put on the 
surface of the pot. Sometimes chem- 
ical fertilizers are added to the com- 
post. Its purpose is two-fold. It feeds 
the roots and encourages them to 
come to the surface, which they do, 
feeding on the mulch which is ap- 
plied, and it prevents the hot sun from 
parching the soil, which necessitates 
such frequent watering. The good ef- 
fects of an inch of cow manure ap- 
plied to azaleas this past July 
plunged in the broad sun have been 
most marked. It is sometimes done 
inside, where plants cannot be shifted, 
but when the roots need more nour- 
ishment. 

On plants in beds, such as roses and 
carnations, it is a most important op- 
eration. The soil is shallow and the 
application of half an inch of manure 
or a rich compost containing bone dust 
or sheep manure is the greatest help 
to them. And in spring the mulching 
on our beds has the same effect as 
that on the pots in summer; it pre- 
vents evaporation. 

Not so much to encourage growth as 
to save the lives of trees and shrubs 
that are recently planted, mulching is 
of the greatest benefit to all trees and' 
shrubs that are planted the previous 
fall or present spring. It has saved 
the lives of millions of young trees. 
In dry weather a freshly planted tree 
needs water, however scientifically you 
have planted it, and to water on the 



146 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



surface tends only to aggravate its 
condition, as the ground soon becomes 
parched. By laying two or three 
inches of stable litter on the surface 
of the ground for a distance extending 
farther than the roots of the tree you 
will prevent evaporation from the 
ground. It will keep the ground cool 
and moist, and when you do water no 
baking of the ground will ensue: the 
tree or shrub will get the benefit of 
the watering for many days. This 
mulching of newly-planted trees is of 
the utmost importance. Many a young 
. tree, evergreen or deciduous, shrubs 
and fruit trees, all alike, are saved 
from death by the simple and inex- 
pensive operation of mulching. 

It is also the only way we can fer- 
tilize our hardy herbaceous plants. An 
inch or two of manure laid between 
the rows in early spring prevents dry- 
ing out, feeds the roots, and can, 
later in the fall, be lightly cultivated 
into the soil. 

MUSA. 

The banana plant is of the easiest 
possible culture; a rough, rich loam, 
an abundance of water, heat and room 
to grow, are all that is required. Occa- 
sionally we see a bunch of M. Caven- 
dishii in our northern hot-houses, and 
if I had the chance of some million- 
aires I would raise my own bananas. 
That would be as reasonable as Levi 
P. Morton producing his own cream, 
which costs him the same price as his 
champagne. 

To those who have only tasted the 
bananas picked green in the West In- 
dies and ripened in the hold of a ves- 
sel or heated warehouse and finished 
off in the sleeping apartment of Giu- 
seppe Garibaldi, the fresh yellow fruit 
ripened on the plant is as Mr. Mor- 
ton's Jersey cream to a very thin 
sample of skim milk. You are not, 
however, likely to embark in the ba- 
nana industry, and as our government 
will soon own a large part of the world 
suitable to their culture we will leave 
that to the new office which will be 
known as "Secretary of the Tropical 
Fruit and Tattooing Department." 

Musa ensete, from Abyssinia, and 
M. superba, from the East Indies, 
make very ornamental plants for the 
sub-tropical garden and for specimens 
on the lawn. You can raise them from 
seed, or buy young plants at a very 
low cost. They should always be 
planted out where a good, fast growth 
is wanted. 

Though a tropical plant you can 
store them during winter in a cool 
house with little water, or they can 
be lifted, the ground shaken off the 
roots and laid under a bench, or they 
will keep in a root-house or cellar 
when not below 40 degrees, but 50 de- 
grees is better. 

In sheltered places they make fine 
specimens on a lawn with their broad, 
tropical leaves, especially M. ensete, 
but in windy places their leaves rip 
and tear, giving the plant a very rag- 
ged appearance. 



MYOSOTIS. 

We are always asked for some 
plants of these in early spring. They 
do not last long in our hot, dry sum- 
mers. M. alpestris makes a compact 
little tuft, full of flowers in the 
spring. 

You can sow the seed in August and 
plant in cold-frames, where they will 
winter all right, but if you have any 
stock it can be divided quite easily 
and planted in cold-frame in Septem- 
ber, a few inches apart. 

For years we grew a very useful 
species of myosotis for cutting in win- 
ter. It was planted in fall along the 
edge of the carnation benches, and 
as it grew entirely outwards and hung 
over the sides of the bench it did no 
harm to the carnations except what 
strength it took from the soil, and 
that we could afford. We propagated 
a few dozen by cuttings in late spring. 



bon borders, but are more valuable as 
a vase plant, for which their graceful 
but free growth and free flowering 
qualities are well adapted. They can- 
not be called a drooping plant, yet 
their slender but wiry growths have 
a fine effect in the edge of a vase or 
veranda box. 

Any good loam will grow them. Lift 
a few plants in fall and cut back hard, 
and keep in a cool, light house. In 
January start with a little heat and 
you will get plenty of cuttings. Or 
if you prefer, take off some cuttings 
in the fall, but th?y don't root freely 
unless the cuttings are of recent 
growth. 

NEPENTHES. 

These remarkable plants are little 
handled by the commercial florist, but 
are so striking and curious that all are 
interestJd in a knowledge of them. 




Nepenthes. 



kept them in 3-inch pots during sum- 
mer, and after the carnations were 
planied we put in a plant of myosotis, 
not too thickly, one about every three 
feet. From them we picked sprays of 
their beautiful flowers all winter. I 
am not positive, but the species was, 
I feel sure, M. azorica. M. dissitiflora 
has large, deep blue flowers, fine for 
borders, but not as good for cutting 
as azorica. 

NASTURTIUM. 
See Tropaeolum. 

NIEREMBERGIA. 

The species of most use to the florist 
is gracilis, which has slender growth 
with pretty white and light purple 
flowers. They were formerly used 
sometimes for flower beds or long rib- 



They are an important genus in that 
family of plants which are now known 
as insectivorous and to which the 
great Darwin devoted a volume as the 
result of his marvelous research. The 
Dionaea muscipula (Venus' fly trap), 
from Carolina, is the most familiar of 
the insectivorous plants. Others are 
its close relation, the drosera, of our 
northern swamps, and again the fa- 
miliar sarracenia. 

The nepenthes are called ••Pitch3r 
plants," because the extension of the 
leaf terminates in the perfect form of 
a pitcher, lid and all. If they were 
not called pitcher plants they would 
lemind you much of the large Ger- 
man pipes, five or six inches in the 
bowl, which usually have a cover. 
What part the pitcher bears to the 
economy of the plant is not fully de- 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



147 



termined, but the fluid held in the 
pitcher contains bacteria which is ca- 
pable of digesting nitrogenous mat- 
ter. If an insect, a fly or bee once 
explores the depths of the pitcher he 
is gone. They are incapable of climb- 
ing up by the interior walls of the 
pitchers and are finally drowned, to 
their discomfiture, but probably to the 
benefit of the plant, hence they are 
called insectivorous, or insect-eating 
plants. 

They are nearly all the most trop- 
ical of tropical plants, found in Bor- 
neo, Madagascar, Ceylon and pretty 
close to the equator. The pitchers 
hang on for months in perfect condi- 
tion if not accidentally or purposely 
emptied of their fluid, which they 
never should be, or they will shrivel 
up. 

Although plants requiring a very 
high temperature they are not at all 
difficult to grow providing you have 
heat and moisture. I have enumer- 
ated several of the finest and best 
known, but there are many hybrids of 
great beauty. 

Propagation. They are not difficult 
to propagate by cuttings, which should 
be three or four eyes of the tip of a 
shoot, placed in sand and kept moist. 
The cuttings should be in a propagat- 
ing case in a warm house and the sand 
should be 10 to 15 degrees warmer 
than the house, or about 80 to 85 de- 
grees. May and June are good months 
to propagate and the cuttings will 
root in three or four weeks. 

Rooted plants should be grown in 
hanging wooden baskets. Shade in 
the summer is necessary. Our sum- 
mer nights are often too cool to do 
the nepenthes well and a gentle fire 
heat is essential the year round. The 
lowest night temperature in winter 
should not be less than 70 degrees. 
The baskets should be filled one-third 
their depth with clean crocks and 
then the roots of the nepenthes should 
be filled in with equal parts of f?rn 
roots and good sphagnum moss, round- 
ing up the surface of the basket with 
good live sphagnum. 

The daily spraying will be suflicient 
without water, and in summer spray 
them twice a day. What they want is 
an atmosphere fairly reeking with 
moisture. The more moist your at- 
mosphere the more your pitcher 
plants will thrive. 

The following all have grand pitch- 
ers: N. Dominiana. Mastersiana, Mor- 
ganiae, Rafl^esiana, Veitchii, Wil- 
liamsii, madagascariensis. As the 
names of the above will denote, some 
of them are garden hybrids. 

The lamented Mr. Court, who repre- 
sented Messrs. Veitch, of London, and 
who made many trips to this country, 
was an enthusiast on these curious 
plants, and whoever saw the collec- 
tion of nepenthes at Chelsea, as the 
writer did in 1885, could not fail to 
see that this wonderful collection of 
grotesque exotics were perfectly at 
home. One of the handsomest hybrids 
raised by Mr. Court bears his name. 
The pitchers on some of the largest 




Otiheite Orange, in gilt basket, tied with ribbon. 



are eight inches long by three inches 
in width. 

OLEANDER (NERIUM). 

There is a marked inclination 
among our patrons the past year or 
two to decorate their grounds, par- 
ticularly where the grounds are con- 
fined to a city lot, with palms, sweet 
bays, tubs of hydrangeas and other 
plants, and the well known oleander 
may yet come into favor; in fact, we 
have of late had calls for large plants 
of it. 

Our acquaintance with this fins 
shrub is too often an unpleasant one. 
Some worthy matron may possess an 
oleander too large for her window, and 
she enquires how much we will charge 
to store it for the winter. You ar? 
bound to charge about as much as the 
plant is worth, so the deal is off. Still, 
where you have a house entirely de- 



voted to the care of such winter 
boarders, you must take the oleander 
as well as other plants, only be sure 
you get enough for your space and la- 
bor. It is no more reasonable that we 
should take in a palm or sweet bay or 
an oleander for little recompsnse than 
that a livery stable should board a 
horse all winter for little or nothing. 

With all their familiarity, oleanders 
are beautiful shrubs. We all hear so 
often about the hedges of them in 
Bermuda. In the cooler parts of Eu- 
rope they are almost entirely a green- 
house plant. With us they are chiefly 
used for summer decoration outside, 
and our warm, bright summer suits 
them finely if well supplied with 
water. 

They root easily from young growths 
in spring, and with occasional pinch- 
ing and shifting on as required soon 
make large plants. It is with the care 



148 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



of large plants that we are most con- 
cerned, and to obtain a fine lot of 
flowers in the summer, and I might 
just mention that this summer of 1S99 
the oleanders have been unusually fine. 

The flower conies on the matured 
wood of the spring growth or previous 
fall, so the ideal treatment would be 
to store them in October, after flower- 
ing, in a ver.v cool house, or a light 
shed will do. but no frost must touch 
them. In early April prune back the 
growths that have borne flowers, and 
with more heat and more water en- 
courage them to make their growth, 
which by June will be fairly matured, 
and they will then soon flower. Dur- 
ing the winter months they will do 
with very little water unless kept in 
a warm greenhouse, when, naturally, 
they want more. 

The correct name of our common 
oleander is Nerium Oleander, and sev- 
eral handsome varieties exist: Album 
plenum, double white; Henri Mares, 
pink, double; Madonna grandiflorum. 
creamy white, large and double; Pro- 
fessor Durand. pale yellow, free; Rose 
Double, bright rose; splendens, bright 
red, double and several others. 

The oleander is pestered with mealy 
bug, and much more by a white scale. 
There is no excuse for the bug on a 
plant that will enjoy the hose as does 
the oleander. When you see the signs 
of scale, sponge the whole plant with 
kerosense emulsion. 

ORANGE. 

The writer's first experience in gar- 
dening, or that for which there was 
any pay, was in an old fashioned con- 
servatory in the curious roof of which 
there was enough lead to make "sink- 
ers" for all the fishermen of the great 
lakes. It was very dark at all times, 
and more than one winter can I re- 
member that the old heating flues 
which ran beneath the white and spot- 
less paths were never lighted. Such is. 
or was, the climate of the south coast 
of England. The frost never entered 
this house, for a venerable heliotrope 
grew against the south wall, a beautiful 
plant of Acacia pubescens flourished 
at the east end, a Phormium tenax 
grew strong and bushy in the north- 
east corner, close by a veteran Fuchsia 
fulgens; opposite them were two 
bushes of the tea tree, and not far off 
a beautiful tree of the Norfolk Island 
pine (Araucaria excelsa) that had to be 
sunk in the border to keep its top from 
the roof, and there were huge camellia 
trees that bore thousands of blossoms, 
the single red a more beautiful tree 
than any of fhera. 

But the chief feature of this old 
house, that was torn down about forty 
years ago, was the large orange trees 
which were planted out in the borders. 
There were flowers or oranges in some 
degree of ripeness all the year round, 
and there were several varieties. Per- 
haps it was the cool, dark house that 
was accountable for the flavor and 
texture of these oranges, for I must 
say that inferior as most tropical fruit 
is when picked green and sent to us, 



that the oranges we bought in the 
shops were much superior to those that 
ripened on those old trees. Quantity 
there was by the bushel, but the qual- 
ity was not tempting, and the writer 
was at that age when anything good 
to eat was tempting. An accidentaU ?) 
shake of a tree would always bring 
a few of the big yellow fellows to the 
ground, but they suffered less from the 
omnivorous appetite of a 15-year-old 
than the peaches and nectarines in the 
same garden. Yet we hear travelers 
and residents of our orange-growing 
states declare that the ripe fruit, 
freshly picked, is far superior to those 
picked prematurely and sent to our 
northern markets. This little diver- 
sion on oranges is not what we are 
after, and we must cease. 

Small dwarf oranges in pots have 
lieen grown for several years past, and 
are now seen in all the florists' stores 
at Christmas. A plant in an eight- 
inch pot and two feet high, well cov- 
ered with fruit, is very attractive, 
and many people want one. We have 
not found them to hold their foliage 
as could be wished in a parlor or sit- 
ting-room, but the golden fruit hangs 
on. It is surprising to how many peo- 
ple the orange tree is yet a stranger. 
The majority of our people don't 
know whether they grow like a musk- 
melon or a chestnut. 

The varieties of the orange are said 
to be almost as numerous as those of 
the apple, and the large, fine flavored 
kinds, such as the Navel, would not be 
precocious and free fruiting enough 
to make very small specimens in pots 
bearing two or three dozen fruits. The 
variety or species grown for this pur- 
pose is. I believe, the Otaheite, which 
flowers and fruits very young. As 



might be expected, the fruit is small, 
but none the less ornamental on that 
account. 

You had much better leave the grow- 
ing of the plant to a specialist, who 
will or can supply you with small 
plants in pots and with fruit about 
ready to color or colored, from one 
foot to thirty inches high, and per- 
haps larger. I shall merely attempt to 
tell you how to produce another crop 
of fruit for the following winter on 
any that you may happen to have left 
over. 

You can keep them anywhere in a 
cool house till the first of March, then 
cut them back a few inches and put 
into more heat. Keep them syringed 
and in the full light. They will soon 
make a good growth and in May will 
flower. Give air without a cold draft, 
and be careful not to let their hand- 
some leaves burn. The fruit will soon 
set, and from that on they want a 
light, airy house, plenty of water and 
only shade enough to keep the leaves 
from burning. In September or Oc- 
tober the fruit will begin to color, and 
from that on they can be kept in a 
temperature of 50 to 55 degrees. 

The greatest enemy to oranges is . 
the white scale, and when plants are 
badly infested with it, especially little 
plants, it is as well to destroy them, 
scale and all. If a larger plant in a 
tub that you value, cut it back in the 
spring and give the bark two or three 
spongings with kerosene emulsion. 

Large oranges in tubs are used 
largely in some parts of Europe for 
ornamental gardening. We have not 
yet reached that, and I trust never 
will, for a large orange tree in a tub 
is a kind of white elephant to all con- 
cerned. 




Calanthe Veitchii, 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



149 




ORCHIDS. 

There is no class of plants at which 
the great majority of our commercial 
men look with greater apprehension 
than the orchids. To grow them suc- 
cessfully is something they may dream 
of but never achieve, so they think; 
but, fortunately, much of this mystery 
regarding their culture is rapidly pass- 
ing away. Special houses are no longer 
deemed essential for the successful 
cultivation of orchids. It would be 
rash to say that orchids are among 
the easiest of plants to grow, because 
there is a wide difference between 
keeping them alive only and growing 
them to perfection, or as near perfec- 
tion as we can with our artificial con- 
ditions. Yet it is the truth to say that 
no plant we grow will stand as much 
abuse or is more difficult to kill, pro- 
viding the neglect is not too prolonged. 
A commercial firm whom I have every 
reason to believe thoroughly under- 
stand the most enlightened culture of 
orchids have adopted in their practice 
what may be called the board system 
of cultivation. For those growing large 
quantities for the cut blooms, the plan 
is doubtless admirable, and does not 



Cattleya Labiata. 

conflict with any cultural directions 
that will follow. 

In these introductory remarks a few 
words on the popularity and probable 
future popularity and profitableness of 
orchids will not be out of place. It is 
true that ten years ago, through the 
efforts of one American firm, there 
were many small collections dissemi- 
nated throughout the country, and 
many of them were not the easiest 
species to grow, or even good commer- 
cial kinds. Disappointment occurred 
in hundreds of cases, and for several 
years you have heard less said of or- 
chids, at any rate, less favorable men- 
tion. But another change is about us. 
Many of our enterprising commercial 
men realize that orchid flowers are 
going to be in demand, whether they 
grow them or not, and many of them 
are going into orchids in a business- 
like way, and giving them a portion of 
their skill and ability, as they have for 
years given the rose, the carnation, or 
the violet. And to keep pace with this 
we now have firms, both at home and 
abroad, ready to supply us at moderate 
cost with the most desirable and valu- 
able commercial species and varieties. 

The writer cannot conceive that 



there can be a doubt of the ever in- 
creasing admiration and fondness for 
these flowers, so beautiful, both in 
form and color, and so long lasting. 
Admiration they receive now by all, 
but there is neither supply nor demand 
as yet for the orchids to amount to 
much in the aggregate of our flower 
sales for the year. I am far from 
wishing to see the profit, or even lib- 
eral profit, of the present few orchid 
growers cut down, and believe that 
when the price of a cattleya flower is 
more in sympathy with the pocket of 
the average flower buyer the demand 
will so enormously increase that the 
immense quantities which will in a 
few years be sold will be a far better 
business than the relatively few high- 
priced flowers sold today. If any peo- 
ple under the sun like and crave for 
"a change," it is our own; flowers are 
no exception, and what a delightful 
change from the morning, noon and 
night everlasting Bridesmaid rose is a 
bunch of cattleyas or many other gor- 
geous orchids. In Covent Garden, the 
great flower market of London, there 
are possibly as many orchids sold as 
rosebuds; but that is not difficult to 
understand; their orchids are grand 



J 50 



The FLORISTS' manual. 



in quality and moderate in price, while 
their rosebuds are rubbish. 

The genera o£ which cultural direc- 
tions follow embrace all the orchids 
that are desirat)le or essential for the 
commercial man to handle. All can be 
grown easily and profitably, and the 
different genera, species and occasion- 
ally a variety, cover the entire season, 
giving you every form, color and shad- 
ing of this gorgeous family, which 
may be called the birds of paradise of 
I lora's Kingdom. The student or spe- 
cialist in orchids wishing to learn of 
every known species and variety 
should obtain the volume on orchids 



written some years ago by Benj. S. 
Williams, London, Eng. 

The "peat" so often mentioned in the 
following directions is not the same 
material which is found in many parts 
of Europe. That "peat" is the surface 
soil, where some of the ericas are or 
have been growing, and after the vege- 
table matter has been shaken out it is 
merely a lump of fibrous roots of no 
fertilizing benefit, but merely a me- 
chanical medium. Tujs quality of peat 
is seldom found here, but a very good 
substitute is found in the chopped-up 
fibrous roots of our strong growing 
native ferns, a good quality of which 




Mass of Cattleya Trianae, grown on wooden block. 



is sold by several firms, and this is the 
"peat" referred to below. 

I trust the would-be grower of or- 
chids will dispel from his mind the 
idea that there is any secret or mys- 
tery in growing orchids. The cardinal 
qualities that will grow a house of 
roses will grow orchids — attention to 
the requirements of the plants, clean- 
liness, air, light, moisture, but above 
all. with orchids study the time and 
length of time the plants need resting. 
The latter is the most essential part of 
orchid culture. 

The following cultural directions 
have been prepared and written by Mr. 
Wm. Hewson, whom I now have the 
honor to employ. He began his orchid 
experience with the fine collection at 
Goodwood, the grand home of the 
Duke of Richmond, afterwards being 
constantly associated with orchid cul- 
ture in several places in the vicinity of 
London. After arriving in this coun- 
try he was the practical cultivator of 
the wonderful collection of Mrs. Mor- 
gan, of New York, during the last 
three years of its existence. Since 
that time and always he has been an 
orchid enthusiast, and they have never 
been absent from his charge. What 
he says about them is plain and to 
the point, and can be understood by 
all. and I have proof, and with the 
utmost confidence say, that every word 
of his can be confidently relied upon 
and followed. WM. SCOTT. 



Best Orchids for Commercial Purposes. 

All baskets or racks should be made 
of red cedar, or harawood, and should 
be put together with copper wire or 
copper nails, to prevent rusting. 

AERIDES.— This beautiful genus is 
a native of India and the Indian archi- 
pelago, and requires a rather high 
temperature. They can be successfully 
grown suspended from the roof of a 
palm house, where a temperature of 
60 to 65 degrees can be maintained 
during the winter months. Their rest- 
ing season is from about November to 
March, after which period the tem- 
perature can rise 10 or 15 degrees as 
the growing season advances. They 
can be grown in either pots or bas- 
kets, but I prefer the latter. Fill the 
pots or baskets two - thirds full of 
clean broken potsherus or charcoal; 
place your plant well up and finish off 
with a good top dressing of live, clean 
sphagnum moss. Care should be tak- 
en to keep the plants clean; remove all 
decayed matter from their roots and 
replace with fresh when occasion re- 
quires. Give a liberal supply of water 
during their growing season; in fact, 
they should never be allowed to be- 
come dry, or the leaves will shrivel. 
The white and brown scale are deadly 
enemies to this class of plants, and 
should be watched for, or the plants 
will soon become useless. 

Aerides Fieldingii, a very free flow- 
ering species with bright, rose colored 
spikes, commonly called the fox-brush 
orchid'. It generally blooms during 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



m 



June and July and lasts about three 
weeks in perfection. 

Aerides crispum, another beautiful 
species, a tree bloomer and of easy 
culture. This variety grows best in a 
basket suspended from the roof, 
blooms in summer, and the flowers 
have a very pleasing odor. 

Aerides Lobbii. a dwarf growing 
species, does well in a basket, blooms 
during June and July, the spikes of 
pink flowers from 12 to 18 inches long 
and perfectly round. This is a grand 
variety. 

Aerides odoratum majus, a grand 
old variety, very free bloomer, beauti- 
ful, aromatic odor, flowers in summer, 
lasting about two weeks in perfection; 
should find a place in every collec- 
tion. 

ANGRAKCUM.— 1 his peculiar genus 
requires the same treatment as aerides, 
only they all grow best in pots and 
require abundance of drainage and 
plenty of moisture during their grow- 
ing season, which is about the same as 
that of the aerides. A little good 
fibrous peat can be used with the 
sphagnum for potting. They are most- 
ly natives of Madagascar. The follow- 
ing I consider the best varieties for 
commercial purposes: 

Angraecum eburneum, greenish- 
white flowers, very sweet and very 
large, strong spikes; blooms during 
the winter months. 

Angraecum sesquipedale. This spe- 
cies I consider tne best of the genus. 
It is a good grower and has large, 
peculiarly-formed flowers, with long 
white tails of ivory whiteness, and 





House of Cattleya Trianae. 



Ca'.tleya Mossiae. 

very fragrant. I have seen these tails 
from 10 to 15 inches long. It blooms 
in winter. 

Angraecum Ellisii, another fine spe- 
cies, with immense flower spikes of 
pure white color, lip a cinnamon 
brown; very sweet scented. 

CALANTHB.— A terrestrial orchid, 
and many are also deciduous. They are 
best grown in pots, well drained, and 
the bulbs well elevated. Pot in a com- 
post of good fibrous loam, some well 
rotted cow manure, a little good, sharp 
sand, and some broken charcoal, well 
mixed. Pot in March for flowering in 
December and January. They require 
a brisk heat and plenty of water in 
their growing season. An occasional 
watering with good liquid manure is 
very helpful to them. Place the plants 
in a cool house a few days before cut- 
ting the flowers for market, as ■•ais 
greatly adds to their strength and 
color. They should be rested in the 
same temperature as they were grown, 
but withhold water altogether until 
you wish to start them growing again. 
This variety is subject to thrip and 
should therefore be watched. 

Calanthe Veitcnii, a beautiful sort, 
with large, branching spikes of flowers 
of a fine rosy pink color. 

Calanthe vestita rubro-oculata. This 
variety has flowers the same as the 



152 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 




Cattleyas Mounted in Various Ways. 



preceding, only differing in color, 
wliicli is wliite, with crimson eye. 

Calanthe Intea, a beautiful variety, 
with fine spikes of white and lemon 
colored flowers. 

CATTLEYA. — This genus is un- 
doubtedly one of the best for commer- 
cial purposes, on account of its easy 
culture and the varied and extreme 
beauty of its flowers, which are pro- 
duced at all times of the year and al- 
ways find a ready sale in the large 
cities. Most of the species can be suc- 
cessfully grown where a temperature 
of 55 to 60 degrees can be maintained 
during winter. They can be grown in 
either pots or baskets, and many will 
do well on blocks of wood suspended 
from the roof, if the room is limited. 
All cattleyaa like a strong light and 
should be grown as near the glass as 
possible, with but little shading and a 



moderate supply of water, even in 
their growing season. By keeping 
them a little on the dry side, you in- 
sure stronger growth and better flow- 
ers. Have plenty of air and moisture 
around them and you will seldom if 
ever fail to be satisfied with the re- 
sults. Pot in a well drained pot or 
basket in good, fibrous peat, with all 
the decayed vegetable matter removed, 
and some clean, live sphagnum moss. 
For blocks use a little peat at the back 
and fasten firmly with copper wire. 
Of course, plants grown in this way 
must be watched, that they do not 
suffer from lack of water, as they dry 
out much quicker than when in pots or 
baskets. The resting season of a cat- 
tleya commences as soon as they have 
finished their growth, when water 
must be withheld enough to just keep 
the plant from shriveling. The white 
scale is an enemy of the plants, and if 



allowed to accumulate, will soon de- 
stroy the best of specimens. 

Cattleya gigas, one of the finest spe- 
cies, from New Granada, has fine, bold 
spikes of beautifully marked flowers, 
pale rose and crimson, and yellow 
blotched throat. Blooms in April or 
May. 

Cattleya labiata, one of the very 
best, from Brazil, with beautiful rose 
and crimson fiowers, which come in 
November and December. This variety 
grows best in a pot. 

Cattleya Mendelii, a beautiful species 
from South America, fiowers in April 
or May. Color white and crimson; 
will do well in a basket, and on no 
account over-pot this variety. 

Cattleya Mossiae. This fine, old spe- 
cies is perhaps the best known of this 
genus, and should be in every collec- 
tion. It blooms in early spring and 
lasts a long time in perfection if kept 
cool and dry. It will do well on a 
block if room is limited, and, suspend- 
ed among the palms, will grow finely. 

Cattleya Trianae. This is one of the 
most extensively grown species of the 
genus. Flowering as it does during 
the autumn and winter months, it Is a 
general favorite with all; can be 
grown on a block. 

Cattleya Percivaliana is a fine win- 
ter flowering variety from South 
America, grows best in a basket or 
pot, profuse bloomer under proper 
treatment; should be in every collec- 
tion. 

Cattleya Bowringiana, a magnificent 
species, producing on one spike as 
many as twelve or fifteen blooms or 
rosk pink color, with crimson lip. It 
should be grown in a pot with plenty 
of room, as it is a very strong grower. 

Cattleya crispa, a fine species, very 
free flowering, producing fine spikes 
of beautiful, pure white flowers, with 
crimson lip and throat. Blooms in 
July or August, and will grow well in 
a basket suspended from the roof. 

OOEiLOGYNE.— This genus has many 
species and varieties, though very few 
are of much value to the commercial 
florist. The most useful is the beauti- 
ful 

Coelogyne cristata grandiflora, which 
produces its graceful racemes of white 
flowers with yellow blotches on throat 
in early spring. This plant is of com- 
paratively easy culture. It likes abun- 
dance of water during its growing sea- 
son, which lasts till the bulbs have 
matured, when water should be with- 
held until the flower spikes are well 
advanced; otherwise they will start 
growing again instead of blooming. 
This species grows best in pots or 
pans, giving the plants plenty of room 
and good drainage. Elevate the bulbs 
on a compost of good fibrous peat, 
broken charcoal, or potsherds about 
the size of hazel nuts, and sphagnum 
moss, and finish off with live sphag- 
num as a top dressing. Potting should 
be done as soon as the fiowering sea- 
son is over. This plant will do well 
in a night temperature of 50 to 55 
degrees in winter. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



153 



CYPRIPEDIUM— This peculiarly in- 
teresting genus is of easy culture. 
They may be grown in either pots or 
pans, in equal parts of good, fibrous 
peat and live sphagnum; a little brok- 
en charcoal is beneficial, as it pre- 
vents the compost from becoming 
sour. You can feed liquid manure to 
the strong growing varieties and it 
will materially help them if they are 
well rooted. They like plenty of wa- 
ter during summer, their growing sea- 
son, and being evergreen and having 
no bulbs to feed from, should never 
be allowed to suffer from lack of it. 
Do not overshade cypripediums, as 
they delight in a strong light. Most 
all varieties require a warm tempera- 
ture. The following are the best for 
commercial purposes: 

Cypripedium insigne is a cool house 
species, but can be grown in a warm 
house. It is a profuse bloomer if well 
cared for, flowers in winter, and lasts 
a long time in perfection. It is very 
beneficial to put it outside for three 
months in summer, slightly shaded 
and well watered. 

(.^ypripedium Harrisianum, a fine 
hybrid, often flowering twice a year, 
is a fine bloomer and stronger grower 
than most cypripediums, therefore re- 
quires plenty of pot room and should 
be grown in a warm house. 

Cypripedium Lawrenceanum, an- 
other species requiring a warm, moist 
atmosphere, is a good bloomer, with 
bold, straight stems and beautifully 
marked flower. Blooms in summer 
and autumn; do not over-pot it. 

Cypripedium Spieerianum, which I 
consider the queen of the genus, is a 
very free grower and good bloomer, 
and is a great favorite in the cut- 
flower market. It requires a warm 




Cattleya Percivaliana. 




Coelogyne Cristata. 



temperature, flowers in early spring, 
and lasts a long time. 

Cypripedium villosum, a grand spe- 
cies from India; similar In color to 
Insigne, but ilie flowers are much 
larger, and have the appearance of 
being varnished. This is a very use- 
ful sort, as it will thrive in either a 
cool or warm house, and should be in 
every collection. It is a very strong 
grower, requiring plenty of pot-room. 

DENDROBIUM. — The members of 
this genus are almost numberless, and 
include some of the most beautiful, as 
well as the most useful, orchids for 
the cut - flower trade. They can be 
grown in pots or baskets, with plenty 
of drainage and a compost of good, 
fibrous peat and live sphagnum, with 
some broken charcoal or potsherds 
mixed with it. They require a warm 
temperature during their growing sea- 
son, with plenty of water, but several 
species, such as Wardianum, nobile, 
Devonianum, etc., should be moved to 
a cool house as soon as they have 
stopped growing, and left there until 
their flower buds are well advanced, 
when they may go into a little warm- 
er house to flower. If this treatment 
is followed up you will be seldom, if 
ever, disappointed in the results of 
your labors. Watch for the thrip on 



10 



154 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 




Cypripedium Insigne. 



but by following the above directions 
you can grow it just as well as Wardi- 
anum. It flowers in May or June, and 
they last about two weeks in perfec- 
tion. 

Dendrobium densiflorum is another 
erect-growing species from India, and 
grows best in a pot, but can be grown 
in a basket in good fibrous peat and 
but little sphagnum. It blooms in 
April or May, the large clusters of 
beautiful yellow flowers being in form 
like a bunch of grapes. This species 
requires a long rest after the bulbs 
are grown, but do not allow the plant 
to shrivel. The flowers last about a 
week in perfection. 

LABLIA.^Of this genus only two 
species are useful to the commercial 
grower. 

Laelia anceps. This can be well 
grown on a block of hard wood with 
a little fibrous peat fastened at the 
back of the plant, which should be 
firmly nxed on with copper wire. It 
can also be grown in a suspended bas- 
ket. Use a compost of good, clean 
peat, charcoal, and live sphagnum 
moss, and keep well drained. This is 
a grand species, with long flower 
spikes, which last a month if kept in 
a cool house. Give pienty of water 
during the growing season, which is 
from about April to November. It is 
a free bloomer and blooms in January 
and February. It will grow well in a 
cattleya house, but can be grown con- 
siderably cooler. 



these plants, as they soon destroy 
them if allowed to remain. 

Dendrobium Wardianum, a beautiful 
species from Assam, is perhaps the 
best. It is a very strong grower and 
good bloomer if above instructions are 
followed, but be sure you do not oyer- 
pot this species, as nothing is more 
injurious to it. It blooms in early 
spring and lasts a long time if kept 
cool and dry. It should be grown in 
a basket, suspended. 

Dendrobium nobile Is a well known 
old species from India, requiring the 
same treatment as Wardianum, but 
can, it necessity requires, be grown 
cooler and kept back, or forced into 
flower, as desired by the grower, at 
any time from December to May. 

Dendrobium formosum giganteum, a 
beautiful variety, differs somewhat 
from the preceding, as it is evergreen 
and produces its beautiful, large flow- 
ers of pure white, with yellow blotched 
lip on the top of the stems, from two 
to five flowers on a spike. This va- 
riety needs but little rest and should 
certainly be grown in a basket and 
suspended in the warmest house. This 
is another sort that should never be 
over-potted, and must always be well 
drained. 

Dendrobium Devonianum is a mag- 
nificent species, and is best grown in a 
basket. Give abundance of water in 
the growing season and freely syringe 
the foliage at least once a day in hot 
weather, to keep down the thrip, which 
is particularly partial to this sort. It 
is by many considered hard to grow. 




Cypripedium Leucochilum Godseffianum. 



The Rorists' Manual. 



155 



ccAOD^ron 




Some Types of Cypripediums. 



156 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



Laelia purpurata, a magnificent spe- 
cies from Brazil, in form resembles a 
cattleya, and requires about the same 
treatment. It can be grown in either 
pot or basliet, has a grand spike of 
beautifully marked flowers, with crim- 
son purple lip. Do not over-pot it and 
watch out for white scale. This spe- 
cies should be in every collection. 

LYCASTE.— This genus is of easy 
culture and can be grown best in a 
cool or intermediate house. Pot in a 
compost of good, fibrous peat and a 
little sphagnum and broken charcoal. 
Give abundance of water during their 
growing season; in ; fact, this plant 
should never be allowed to become too 



ODONTOGLOSSUM.— This is a grand 
genus of orchids, probably the most 
interesting of all. They can all be 
grown in pots, with plenty of drainage 
and abundance of water during their 
growing season; in fact, they should 
never be allowed to become dry enough 
to allow the sphagnum to lose Its 
beautiful, fresh green color, even in 
winter. They grow well potted in good 
fibrous" peat, with a liberal top dress- 
ing of good, green sphagnum, which 
should be removed as soon as decayed 
and replaced by fresh; this sometimes 
has to be done twice a year. They de- 
light in a cool, moist atmosphere, and 
plenty of air in summer, and in win- 




Freshly Iinported Cattlcyas. 



dry at the roots, even during their sea- 
son of rest. The growing season is 
from about April to October. 

i^ycaste Skinnerii, a native of Guate- 
mala, is undoubtedly the best species, 
blooming freely, as it does, during the 
winter months, with fine, erect, beau- 
tifully marked fiowers of white, rose 
colored, and crimson, anu they last a 
long time in perfection. Care should 
be taken to keep the flowers free from 
damp or they will soon become discol- 
ored or uestroyed. 

Lycaste cruenta is a very free flow- 
ering species from Guatemala, blooms 
about April, and has a very pleasing, 
aromatic odor. It requires the same 
treatment as the preceding. 



.. ter, when possible. A northern aspect 
.-• suits many of them, as they do not 
, likesthe sun, and should in any case 
-•*b6sshaded from its direct rays. A good 
syringing with a fine rose twice a day 
in summer and once a day in winter 
on all bright days is very beneficial 
to them. A temperature of 45 to 50 
degrees in winter suits them admir- 
ably, with but few exceptions. They 
should on no account be over-potted, 
and must be always well drained. They 
all flower from the side of the bulb. 
Watch for slugs and snails, as they 
eat the tender flower spike very often. 
Cotton batting placed about the flower 
spike is a good preventive. They are 



also subject to thrip if allowed to get 
dry. 

Odontoglossum xiiexandrae (crisp- 
um), a most beautiful variety from 
Bogota, one of the best cool house 
orchids, has a very graceful spike of 
pure white flowers, blotched with ir- 
regular cinnamon spots. The plant 
blooms in fall and early winter. 

Odontoglossum vexillarium (some- 
times called Miltonia vexillarium). 
This grand species grows best in the 
cattleya house, but should have the 
direct rays of the sun kept from it. 
Elevate the plant well on the pot and 
use only the best fibrous peat and 
good, clean sphagnum, and plenty of 
drainage. This species comes from 
Brazil and blooms freely during sum- 
mer and autumn under proper treat- 
ment. The flowers are large, rosy 
pink, and very distinct. They last a 
long time if kept free from damp. 

Odontoglossum cirrhosum, a mag- 
nificent species, that is a native of 
Ecuador, and produces a very fine 
spike from 12 to 18 inches long of 
beautifully marked Cowers, pure 
white, with heavy cinnamon spots. It 
grows best in a cool house and should 
surely be in every collection. 

Odontoglossum citrosmum, a truly 
beautiful species that comes from 
Guatemala, and differs materially from 
the preceding. It is best grown in a 
basket, suspended in the cattleya 
house, as it produces long, drooping 
flower spikes of pure white ground, 
with almost invisible lavender spots; 
blooms in June or July. 

Odontoglossum maculatum, a charm- 
ing species that also comes from 
Guatemala, and produces its beautiful, 
erect spikes of yellow and crimson 
flowers during the winter. Grow in a 
pot in the cool house. 

Odontoglossum Phalaenopsis, one of 
the best of the genus if properly 
grown, and should be in every collec- 
tion. It grows best in the cattleya 
house and should be grown in a pot 
well drained. This is a very distinct 
species, with very large, perfectly flat 
white and crimson flowers, which are 
produced during the autumn months. 
Odontoglossum grande, a beautiful, 
free flowering species, that comes from 
Guatemala and is commonly known as 
the "Baby Orchid." It grows best in 
a pot, blooms in autumn and winter, 
the flowers lasting a very long time. 
It produces an upright, stiff stem, with 
from three to flve large tiger-striped 
yellow and brown flowers. It is sub- 
ject to thrip if allowed to become dry. 
Should be grown in the cool house. 

Odontoglossum Rossii majus, a sweet 
little variety from Mexico. It grows 
best on a block, with a little flbrous 
peat and abundance of water. It is a 
very free bloomer, with short spikes 
of two or three beautifully marked 
crimson and white flowers. A very 
suitable variety for boutonnieres. It 
deserves a place in every collection. 

ONCIDIUM.— This interesting genus 
is perhaps the most useful commer- 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



157 



cially of any for its gracefully delicate 
spikes of beautifully marked flowers, 
some of which caa be had at all times 
of the year under proper cultivation. 
Most of them like the temperature of 
the cattleya house, but can be grown 
in cooler quarters if care is observed 
in watering. Oncidiums do not like 
much water on the foliage, but require 
plenty of moisture in the atmosphere 
as well as free veiitilation. Many sorts 
grow well on blocks, with sphagnum 
moss or good, fibrous peat at the back 
of them, and firmly fastened with 
strong copper wire. All varieties de- 
light to be suspended as near the 
glass as practicable, but must be 
shaded lightly. They like plenty of 
water at their roots in their growing 
season, and those grown in pots or 
baskets require an abundance of drain- 
age. They can be grown in either peat 
or sphagnum, or both, but I prefer the 
latter for most sorts, with some brok- 
en charcoal. During their resting sea- 
son water very carefully, but on no 
account allow them to suffer for want 
of it. Most species are subject to the 
white scale and should therefore be 
watched. Slugs are very partial to 
the young, tender flower spikes, and a 
small piece of cotton batting should 
be tied around them to save them from 
the depredations of these pests. 

Oncidium ampliatum majus is, I 
think, a native of Guatemala, and pro- 
duces its large, branching spikes of 
beautiful yellow flowers in spring, and 
continues blooming for at least six 
weeks if in robust health. It grows 
best in a pot or basket, but can be 
grown on a block if plenty of water is 
given. 




Laelia Anceps. 




Odontoglossum Rossii Majus. 



Oncidium incurvum, a pretty Mexi- 
can species, blooming very freely in 
winter, has long spikes of white and 
brown flowers. Grows best in a pot, 
with the same treatment as the above. 

Oncidium crispum, a grand dwarf 
species from Brazil, grows best on a 
block with a little sphagnum or fibrous 
peat, loves moisture and does well in 
the cattleya house or any house main- 
taining a night temperature of 55 to 
60 degrees; blooms generally in sum- 
mer; has a large, branching spike of 
yellowish copper color; is very at- 
tractive and lasts about three or four 
weeks. 

Oncidium reflexum, a fine old species 
from Mexico, produces numerous 
spikes of beautiful yellow flowers dur- 
ing autumn. It is a general favorite 
with both grower and purchaser and 
should be grown by all orchid grow- 
ers. 

Oncidium varicosum is a good spe- 
cies for all to grow, as it is a very 
free grower and good bloomer. Grows 
best in a flat pot or basket, in a warm 
house, suspended; has a fine spike of 
canary yellow flowers; very imposing 
in appearance; is a native of Brazil; 
blooms In summer and lasts a long 
time in perfection. 

Oncidium varicosum Rogersii, one of 
the very best of the genus, similar to 
the above in habit and color, but 



158 



THE FTLORISIS' MANUAL. 




Phalaenopsis Schilleriana. 



grows stronger and has much larger 
spikes; a very valuable variety for 
commercial purposes, both as a pot 
plant or cut flower. I have grown this 
beautiful plant myself with more than 
100 blooms on a spike. It blooms in 
autumn and in early winter months 
and lasts a long time in perfection. 

Oncidium tigrinum Is another fine 
species from Mexico, with a large, 
branching spike of beautifully marked 
yellow and brown flowers, produced In 
winter; Is a free bloomer and lasts a 
long time in perfection. Grows best In 
a pot. 

Oncidium Cavendishianum Is a beau- 
tiful species, having large, heavy, 
fleshy leaves, and is therefore best 
grown in a pot. It produces during 
winter enormous spikes of beautiful 
yellow flowers, and they last six to 
eight weeks in perfection. It is a na- 
tive of Guatemala. Although when 
in good health it produces very large 
foliage, I do not think it needs a pot 
or pan in proportion to its size, as 
nothing is more injurious to it than 
being over-potted. It requires careful 
watering during the dull months of 
winter, which is its resting season. 

PHALAENOPSIS.— There are many 
species of this genus, all beautiful, 
though many are not productive 
enough to warrant them a place in 
the commercial list. They all require 
a high temperature, not less than 65 
degrees during winter, but 70 degrees 
is even better. They delight in light, 
heat, and moisture, and should be 
lightly sprayed once a day during hot 
weather; ventilate freely when it Is 
possible, as they delight In pure air. 
but by no means place them in a 
draught. They grow best in perfo- 
rated pots, or baskets, well drained 
with good, clean potsherds or broken 
charcoal, or both, with a liberal top 
dressing of good, live sphagnum. 



which should be removed as soon as 
decay begins and replaced by fresh. 
As phalaenopsis delight in cleanliness, 
great care is necessary in potting this 
genus, particularly Schilleriana and 
amabilis, as they root freely and cling 
firmly to the pot or basket in which 
they are grown, and cannot be re- 
moved without the aid of a knife, and 
this is a very delicate operation, often 
resulting in serious injury to the 
plants. A good plan is to place the 
plant, pot and all, into larger size and 
fill up with charcoal and fresh sphag- 
num, and not disturb tne roots at all. 
These plants should be suspended, if 
possible, as they love the light, but 
must be shaded from the direct sun, 
or the leaves will burn; and never al- 
low them to suffer for want of water. 

Phalaenopsis Schilleriana is a mag- 
nificent species from Manila, has large 
branching spikes during winter and 
spring of beautiful mauve flowers 
edged with white, with reddish brown 
spotted lip. 

Phalaenopsis amabilis, a beautiful 
species also from Manila, is certainly 
the queen of this genus; blooms at all 
times of the year and lasts a long time 
in perfection. It has long, graceful 
spikes of pure white flowers, lip spot- 




Orchids growing in hanging pots. 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



J59 



ted with pink. This is one of the best 
for marl?et purposes and requires the 
same treatment as above. 

Phalaenopsis grandiflora, a beautiful 
species, that comes from Java and re- 
sembles amabilis in every way except 
that the lip of the flower is marked 
with lemon yellow instead of pink. 
This plant grows well on a rack with 
sphagnum moss at the back and is a 
very prolific bloomer. 

VANDA.^This beautiful genus re- 
quires a temperature of 60 to 65 de- 
grees at night and delights in the 
sun, unless very strong, and then a 
light shading for an hour or two will 
be sufficient. All the species will 
grow in pots, well drained, and potted 
in clean, fresh sphagnum and broken 
charcoal, with plenty of moisture 
about them, and lots of water at the 
roots in summer, but be very careful 
. in winter, unless the pot is very full 
of roots and growing freely. Give a 
little air when possible in winter and 
plenty in summer. Some species bloom 
twice and even three times a year. 
The flowers have a delightful odor and 
last about a month if kept dry. All 
vandas are subject to scale, and should 
be kept free from these pests, or the 
plant will soon be ruined. 

Vanda caerulea, the beautiful blue 
orchid, should be in every collection. 




Group of Vanda Caerulea. 




Vanda Suavis. 



It is of easy culture and a very free 
bloomer. A temperature of 55 degrees 
at night suits it well, as the flowers 
are a much better color than those 
grown in a higher temperature. It is 
a native of northern India and blooms 
in autumn. Do not over-pot this plant 
and suspend as near the glass as pos- 
sible. 



Vanda Insignis, a grand old sort 
from the Malayan islands, blooms in 
May or June. It has large spikes of 
flowers of a magnificent combination 
of colors, is of easy culture and a 
very free bloomer. 

Vanda suavis. One can hardly say 
enough about this old favorite from 
Java, blooming at all times of the 



year, large spikes of beautiful white 
flowers spotted with crimson. I have 
seen this plant in bloom ten months 
out of the year. 

Vanda tricolor is similar to suavis, 
of the same habit, and requires the 
same treatment, only the flowers are 
lemon yellow, with crimson spots, 
purple and white lip, and last a very 
long time. It also is a native of Java. 



MEXICAN ORCHIDS 

Leading species of Oncidiums, Lselias 

and Odontoglols for florists Will 

send collection of Vi plants, parcel 
postpaid, for $5.00. 

J. A. McDowell, 

Apartado167. CITY OF MEXICO 



OTHONNA. 

The species crassifolia is worthy of 
notice. Because of its succulent, fleshy 
leaves it is one of our very best bas- 
ket plants. It withstands the heat and 
drying-out process which our hanging 
baskets undergo better than almost 
any of the plants we use for that pur- 
pose. 

It is most easily increased by cut- 
tings at any time of the year. A 
rather light, sandy soil suits it best, 
and when its pendant growth is any 
length you should find some place for 
it on a shelf. Don't give it a cold, 
damp place in the greenhouse, but 
keep it warm and growing, and you 
can multiply it indefinitely, as the 
small pieces of the stem will root any- 
where. 



160 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



OXALIS. 

A very large genus, of which a 
few are very familiar plants. O. 
rosea (floribuntla) and 0. lutea (yel- 
low) are grown as pot plants and sold 
in the spring, and they make excellent 
basket plants, but not mixed with 
other plants. They do much better 
and have a finer effect when in a mass 
by themselves. An earthen basket or 
suspended pan is better for the oxalis 
than a wire basket, but either will do. 

They divide readily, which is best 
done in winter when the plants are 
partly dormant. The.v dislike a wet, 
heavy soil, and need a good, light 
loam, well drained, and an airy, sunny 
exposure. In the fall give them less 
water, and for December , January and 
February they could rest under a dry 
bench in a cool house with very little 
water. In March start them growing 
and divide if you wish. 

They can also be raised from seed. 
There are a great many species, hav- 
ing yellow, white, pink and violet 
flowers, all greenhouse perennials, be- 
sides a few that are annuals. The two 
well kndwn species mentioned are 
easy to grow and very free blooming. 

PACKING FLOWERS. 

The author might have called upon 
one whose business it was to daily, 
and perhaps all day, pack flowers, but 
since he received a letter from Chi- 
cago a year or so ago which ac- 
knowledged the receipt of a box of or- 
chid flowers which conveyed the pleas- 
ant tidings, "The coelogyne flowers ar- 
rived in the most perfect order; they 
were finely packed," and as no one 
but myself had a hand in it, I feel com- 
petent not only to pack flowers, but to 
tell others how to do it. 

This is an opportune time to repeat 
a short story of that great man, Hor- 
ace Greeley, who embittered and 
shortened his days by accepting the 
nomination for president. In his 
young days he edited an agricultural 
paper somewhere in our state, and a 
delegation of western farmers called 
on him. After a pleasant chat in his 
office the leader of the party said: 
"Now, Mr. Greeley, we should like to 
see your farm." "H — 1; farm! Gen- 
tlemen, you don't expect a man to 
write and farm too." was the forceful 
rejoinder. So it's not necessary for a 
man to be continually at the calling 
to be able to write about it. In fact, 
if he is too well posted on a specialty 
his brain is liable to be clouded. 

In no part of the business (for this 
part is purely a business, unlike the 
cultivating, which is a profession) is 
there more need of good sense and 
judgment, which with constant prac- 
tice makes an expert packer of flow- 
ers. In the first place, some men have 
a knack or gift of handling cut fiow- 
ers different from others. Some men 
will take up a few dozen roses from 
the counter and move them or show 
them off to a customer as quickly but 
as gently as a mother handles a two- 
months-old baby, while I have often 
been annoyed to see others slap them 



down as if they were a bundle of salt 
codfish. Every time the soft petals of 
a rose get a knock there is a bruise 
that does not show at once, but does 
in a few hours. 

It is not the distance they travel; 
the quick ride in the express car can 
do but little harm; but they get jarred 
about many times before they are 
placed on the retailer's counter. The 
grower may handle them roughly; 
they get a bump at the local station, 
and another when thrown into the ex- 
press car; another jar or two before 
they get into the express wagon to be 
delivered at the stores, and if they are 
going to the commission man their 
troubles have only begun. 

There are, broadly, two rules to ob- 
serve. Flowers should never be put 
into a box crowded so that they are 
actually squeezed, and, what is quite 
as bad. so loosely that they can shake 
or move about. 

Roses should not be packed more 
than one layer deep. Their flowers 
should be sufficiently far from the end 
of the box that there is no possibility 
of their petals being jammed against 
the end. It they have any distance to 
go there should be a layer of tissue 
paper between every row of buds, and 
in warm weather, with varieties like 
American Beauty and Ulrich Brunner, 
every rose should be wrapped in tis- 
sue. The box should be long enough 
to take the stems at full length. 

Small and tight buds may have an- 
other layer of buds on top. but with 
the choicest flowers one layer deep is 
enough. A great many buds will go 
into a shallow box because the flow- 
ers lie close behind each other. Some 
tissue paper over the lot and news- 
paper to keep them firmly in place, 
and then the lid. Flowers going by 
express, particularly where (as often 
there is) a change of cars on the road, 
should be packed so that no harm 
comes to them whether the bo^ is 
standing on its side, bottom or upon 
end (which it frequently does). 

Carnations don't bruise sO' much as 
roses, but their petals get crushed if 
crowded in and they have to remain 
hours in cellar or ice box before they 
get their perfect shape restored. 
What a change in the box suitable for 
carnations. Thirty years ago we 
thought a cigar box was handy to 
carry a few short-stemmed carnations 
in. A few years ago we had wooden 
boxes made, thirty inches long, and 
now we want a box five feet long, if 
it is to hold any quantity. 

The best flowers of carnations 
should be laid in flat boxes, one row 
of flowers behind the others, as you do 
roses, but they need no tissue paper 
between them. If you can give the 
flowers a few hours in a cool cellar 
before offering them for sale then you 
can lay them in the box in bunches of 
25. but the less weight you have on the 
flowers the better for their petals. 

■Violets are easy to pack and are 
usually sent in bunches of 2,5 and 50. 
all tied by the grower ready to retail. 
They are often huddled into a box a 



foot deep. That may do for some 
grades, but the finest should have a 
box some six or seven inches deep and 
the bunches placed one behind the 
other and each bunch wrapped in tis- 
sue paper. 

Lily of the valley is easily handled, 
and if each bunch is wrapped you can 
pack quite closely, but let each bunch 
be reclining on the other and only one 
layer deep. It is weight that express- 
men charge for and not space, so when 
supplied with suitable boxes it is use- 
less to crowd and spoil flowers for the 
sake of another box. 

Orchids are not packed every day. 
except by a few specialists, but laid 
on a bed of cotton batting, with the 
same material put between the flow- 
ers and sufficient covering to keep 
them from shaking, they travel all 
right. Cypripediums will, of course, 
travel with less care than the softer 
flowers of cattleya. odontoglossum and 
coelogyne, but with plenty of batting 
they travel well and two days' journey 
to them is the same as two hours. 

The Liliums Harrisii and longiflorum 
are the most troublesome flowers to 
pack and have arrive without a grum- 
ble. If you let them rest on tissue 
paper their own weight will break 
their petals, and even if every flower 
was stuffed full of batting and every 
flower surrounded with it, there would 
be a great many damaged flowers. We 
have found the best plan is to get a 
box of sufficient depth and across it, 
say a foot from the bottom and the 
same from the end, fasten a strip of 
wood fan inch square will do). Then 
take half a dozen spikes of lilies and 
bunch them up with their flowers fit- 
ting in among each other and fasten 
that bunch on to the strip of wood a 
few inches behind the flowers. See 
that the flowers do not touch bottom, 
sides or any part of the box. or an- 
other bunch of flowers. The lily flow- 
ers will swing, but move all together, 
and not be bruising each other. 

This principle we found a good plan 
when carrying lilies to town at Easter 
time. If you loaded up a hundred 
plants in the wagon and let them 
stand up singly, however mild and 
quiet the day. they would swing into 
each other and many would be brok- 
en; but if half a dozen are tied to- 
gether and cannot swing into another 
bunch, they will travel perfectly. 

In packing the cut stalks in a box 
you can put as many bunches as you 
choose, but never let one bunch touch 
another, or any chance to do so. 
, Bulbous stuff does not travel well 
wlien uuexpanded. You should not at- 
tempt to pack them more than one 
layer deep, and lightly covered with 
tissue, but a great many can be put in 
a box, as they do not hurt in the 
least to be packed tightly together. 

We do not have any more camellia 
or gardenia packing, and there is a 
vast army of young florists who per- 
haps never handled one. The slight- 
est touch of your flngers on the petals 
of a camellia would leave a mark. 
You had to handle them from the un- 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



161 



der side ot petals and in traveling 
eacli one had to lay on a bed ot bat- 
ting and be covered with a layer of 
the same. And the same care must 
be taken with gardenias or their pet- 
als will soon be a dirty yellow. 

Eucharis flowers should also be 
packed in batting or their beautiful 
flowers are easily bruised. 

I don't know that there is any spe- 
cial method for the other flowers we 
use. Common sense will suggest the 
right plan. As before stated, the main 
point is not to crush with over crowd- 
ing, and don't leave room at ends, 
sides or top of box for any shaking 
or moving. 

A few months in the autumn and 
again in the spring are the easiest and 
safest times to send flowers on any 
journey. The temperature is just 
right, no fear of frost and no need of 
ice, and during the cool days of Octo- 
ber and November is when our chrys- 
anthemums are mostly handled. Fine 
flowers of these, like the good roses 
and carnations, should be laid out in 
rows with tissue paper between their 
fine heads, and they are so heavy that 
one layer of them is always enough. 
In saying one layer it is always under- 
stood that when you commence with 
the first row of flowers, whatever they 
are, that you have a roll of tissue 
paper, or a roll of excelsior wrapped 
around with tissue paper, and that 
the first row of flowers rests against, 
which brings them up as high in the 
box as the last row put in. each suc- 
ceeding row laying just behind tha 
other, separated or not by a strip of 
tissue. 

In the hot summer months there are 
not many flowers going long distances. 
When roses are sent a journey and 
the thermometer is 85 or 90 degrees, 
lumps of ice are distributed among 
the stems or placed in the bottom ot 
the box; but if much is used it should 
be fastened so that it does not roll 
around. It is surprising how few 
flowers we get frozen when the weath- 
er is considered, but when going a 
journey by rail in the winter months 
always pack tor zero weather. You 
can't tell how long they may be on 
the expressman's wagon, and there is 
where we get the trouble, if any. 

There are other boxes besides pine 
now used for transporting flowers, but 
for very severe weather half-inch pine 
boxes are the best. Paper seems to 
be the best medium to resist the cold. 
a number of sheets inside and plenty 
more outside. Paper, if only common 
newspaper, which is so inexpensive, is 
excellent for the purpose. We all 
know, or ought to know, that a news- 
paper of a few thicknesses on our 
chest will in a cold time keep off the 
wintry blasts far better than the 
heaviest undershirt (you may as well 
have the undershirt, too). Paper is, al- 
though thin, airtight, and a number 
of layers will resist the coldest weath- 
er for a long time. So either in cold 
or hot weather plenty of it should be 
used, and it should be always dry. If 
wet it would be a conductor of cold. 



The above remarks have been most- 
ly suitable for shipping flowers some 
distance. The grower, and there are 
many such, whose houses are only a 
few miles in the country, who sees his 
boxes aboard the train, and Fritz, the 
express driver at the city end, knows 
them and shoves them on his wagon 
and soon delivers them, has not all 
this care and trouble. We know from 
experience that when we are quite 
sure our boxes will be carefully han- 
dled and promptly delivered, our car- 
nations and roses and violets, mums 
or gladiolus or asters, can be just laid 
in the box, giving them lots of room, 
and they will arrive at our store in an 



Roses are cut several times a day 
when they are fit and should be in 
water a few hours before ship- 
ping. Once a day is enough to cut 
carnations, which should be always 
fully expanded. We prefer to cut (or 
as some say, "pull" them) in the 
morning and ship to town In the even- 
ing. Violets we like to pick towards 
evening and put their stems in wa- 
ter, but not in a cellar; under a rose 
or carnation bench is best; if kept on 
ice or in a very cool cellar they lose 
all their odor. Lily of the valley 
should also be cut and bunched and 
stood in water in the cool for twenty- 
four hours before using. The stems 




Plants Prepared for Packing. 



hour or so just as they left the houses. 
But very different would it be had 
they to go into strangers' hands and 
journey 400 miles. 

The cutting of flowers is hardly 
within the scope of this article, but 
here is an opportunity to say that our 
leading flowers should not be cut and 
at once packed. If you do, they are 
unfit for sale in the store for ten 
hours. A cool cellar is a great boon 
to a florist, where he can store his 
flowers a day or a night before ship- 
ping. I may differ with some, but if 
the cellar is moist as well as cool, 
none the worse; for roses I am sin-e it 
is better to be moist; for carnations, 
perhaps not. 



get charged with water and last long- 
er and are stitfer. Chrysanthemum, 
can be cut a day or several days ahead, 
just before they are fully developeii. 
Here again my experience tells me 
that if the cellar is moist as well as 
cold it will keep the mums in fine or- 
der. Cut all bulbous flowers a day 
before you want to use them and then 
they won't wilt. 

We are often sorely vexed at some 
miserable breakdown in the very last 
part of the packing or care of flowers, 
and this is more than annoying. . If 
your crop had failed at the start you 
could have perhaps replaced it. but 
carelessness or "thickheadedness" in 
the handling of flowers at the last mo- 



162 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



ment is heartbreaking. You have built 
the houses, watched and labored at 
the crops; perhaps through the curl- 
ing smoke of a 10-cent domestic you 
have viewed your Flora Hill carna- 
tions or Marie Louise violets and 
through a hazy but pleasant day- 
dream figured on the proceeds, pencil- 
ling on the nearest plate or rafter so 
many thousand at so much per hun- 
dred, and all this is wrecked by some 
poor or careless handling at the last 
moment. 

We are often called upon to send 
designs away bv I'ail. There i.-^ onlv 



store, when frozen, they would be use- 
less. 

PACKING PLANTS. 

Among the large commercial houses 
of this country the packing of plants 
of every kind and at all seasons is 
reduced to a science and most admira- 
bly done; and still better, the pur- 
chaser has nothing to pay for their 
expeditious work and material. The 
Belgians are excellent packers, but 
we have to pay for their old boxes. 
The English are clumsy, old fashion- 
ed anil antediluvian packers, but one 




Plants in Pots Prepared for Packing. 



one way; they must be so fastened 
to the box. bottom and sides, by wire 
that they cannot move, and lightly 
covered with tissue paper and pro- 
tected from frost. If any considerable 
amount and the distance is not too 
far, it is always more satisfactory to 
send a competent man with the flow- 
ers, to unpack and fix any little dam- 
age done in transit. 

When receiving a box of floweVs that 
you think are frozen, put the box 
without unpacking in a cool cellar, 
that the frost may come out very 
gradually. Many flowers are not much 
the worse for a degree or two of frost, 
but if suddenly unpacked in a warm 



part of their packing is not obsolete 
and that is the charge for boxes, 
hampers and mats, which are always 
charged at full price. Strange that 
a people so great in horticulture are 
so old-fashioned in packing a few 
plants. Possibly it's because the Eng- 
lish houses do not export so much as 
the Continental. 

To this day when two dozen gera- 
niums or calceolarias or a few bed- 
ding plants (if it was epacrls or heath 
there would be more reason for it) is 
sent thirty miles to the Rev. Arch- 
deacon Slowpay, D. D., The Frogs, 
Frogingham, Slopshire, they are sent 
in a large, round hamper that would 
hold five bushels of corn in the ear. 



Then there are from eight to fifteen 
stout hazel stakes rammed in around 
the edge and brought to a point at the 
top, the whole enveloped by a Russian 
mat or mats which with a large sail 
needle is carefully sewed to the 
basket and stakes to prevent a cy- 
clone from removing it. The whole 
when completed would make a most 
comfortable dog house or council 
chamber for a Lilliputian king and 
his caliinet. We must make one ex- 
ception to these rather sweeping re- 
marks. The English firms who send 
out orchids know how to pack them 
to perfection. 

Good as our shipping firms are at 
packing, the general florist is not 
called upon to pack often enough to 
keep an expert for that branch of the 
business and sometimes the wrapping 
and boxing of plants is crudely done. 

Small plants, such as small ferns 
or palms or asparagus, or the general 
run of bedding plants that are not 
wanted for immediate effect, are very 
easily handled. One plant, or in case 
they are from 2-inch pots, three or 
four plants, are wrapped lightly in 
paper (a tough but light and pliable 
quality of brown paper is best), a 
plant or bundle of plants is laid flat 
in the box with the roots against end 
of box. The next row is reversed so 
that the papers that protect the tops 
overlap each other and so you pro- 
ceed till you have the bottom of the 
box covered. If you think the plants 
are heavy put in an inch or so of 
marsh hay or excelsior before you 
begin another layer, but if there is 
not much top to the plants, as in young 
carnations, then a sheet or two of 
brown paper is enough between the 
tiers of plants. Always fill the box, 
if not with plants, then with dry moss 
or papers, so that the plants cannot 
move. This way of packing small or 
medium sized plants where the bloom 
is not considered is entirely satisfac- 
tory with the lid of the box tightly 
nailed down. 

In summer the sides and top of box 
can have spaces left between boards 
and in winter the box must not only 
be tightly made but well lined with 
several sheets of paper. This plan is 
quick, safe and inexpensive when the 
plants are going by express or freight 
and will be sure to arrive at their 
destination in a weelv or less, but it 
would never do to send plants this 
way in the hold of a vessel across the 
Atlantic, for they would rot. 

Small plants that are wanted for im- 
mediate use in tlie spring, such as 
geraniums, coleus or cannas, should 
be stood up straiglit in a box, the ball 
and plant always wrapped, and you 
can generally squeeze in another plant 
on the ball of the lower plants, thus 
almost doubling your capacity, and 
doing no liarm to the plants These 
boxes, howe-er mild the weather, 
should be covered lightly but strongly 
a few inches above the tops of the 
flowers or leaves, or the express 
charge on them will be just double, 
and the freight house will refuse them 



The FLORISTS' manual. 



163 




System of "slatted" packing, first layer. 

altogether if unprotected. When the 
express people see that they are grow- 
ing plants they won't dare not to 
handle them properly. 

A lighter and better thing for send- 
ing these plants out in spring is a 
crate, which is much handier than a 
box. Make two frames, say 18 in.x2 ft. 
of 2x1 pine, strongly nailed; these are 
the ends and to the bottom and sides 
of these nail 6-in. boards, any length, 
and when packing is done two or 
three of them on top. Except for the 
bottom to carry the weight of plants 
half-inch stuff is plenty strong enough 
for sides and top. 

Flowering plants, such as azaleas, 
can be sent away the same way. pro- 
viding the weather is not cold. If it 
is, close packing is necessary, and 
then the ball or pot must be secured 
by strips so that if the box should 
get a turn on its side, which all closed 
boxes are liable to, the plants will 
still remain in position. 

Palms and draeaenas of all kinds 
are easy to pack and very seldom can 
we make a complaint that any leaves 
are bruised or broken. It the weather 
is warm these plants can be safely 
sent by a fast freight line, which 



saves the high charges of the express 
company, but whatever time of year 
it is the leaves should be brought up 
close to a stake, if stake is needed, 
and each leaf carefully tied in. Then 
they can be stood upright in boxes, 
with or without pots, and a frame 
work built around them. In cold 
weather or at least when there is dan- 
ger of a hard frost, these plants 
should always go by express. The 
price of one palm may pay for the 
charge on the lot. 

If only a few they can be laid in a 
l)OX, well wrapped in paper, and any 
moving prevented by plenty of pack- 
ing material, but when a considerable 
number they are batter packed in the 
same way that we receive our azaleas, 
acacias, etc., so excellently packed, 
from Belgium, with this difference, 
that while the imported stuff have 
their roots wrapped around with moss 
and their tops entirely open and free, 
the palms should have their leaves 
well wrapped in paper, and paper will 
do tor the roots, no need of any moss. 
The first plant is laid against the end 
of the box and when the row of plants 
is laid across the end, another row is 
laid at the other end with the tops 
overlapping. Then a stout strip of 
wood an inch square is nailed across 
the inside of the box and firmly 
against the ball of earth near the 
stem. Then some more packing mate- 
rial, paper, excelsior or dry moss, and 
another layer of plants, and another 
cross strip, till the box is full. No 
plant can move from its position if 
this is properly carried out and there 
is not the slightest crowding of the 
leaves. 

The azaleas, which sometimes are 
twenty days from time of packing till 
they are potted with us, usually 
reach us in fine order, and so do 
palms, rhododendrons and other 
plants fi-om Belgium. They wrap well 
in moss, which is tied on securely cm 
the ball, but the heads of the hard 
wooded plants are left uncovered, and 
doubtless for the long journey it is 
right. Air they want, and for that 
reason in a large box of plants cross- 
ing the Atlantic several holes a few 
inches square are cut in the sides and 
top of box to let there be a circulation 
of air; without it the plants would 
lose their leaves. It is mighty im- 
portant that these holes be covered 
with a piece of wire netting to keep 
out the ship rats. On one occasion 
this was not done with a box of aza- 
leas we received and a ship rodent 
had made a state room of our box, 
and from the twigs, and mince meat 
he had made of many of the plants 
he doubtless considered himself a first 
class saloon passenger. With our 
boxes of plants going by express a 
thousand miles there is no need of any 
air holes, in fact weather would not 
permit. 

Whenever plants are going away, 
summer or winter, they should be wa- 
tered, not a few minutes, but an hour 
or two before they are packed, and 
when wrapped in either paper or moss 



they will remain several days quite 
moist. The material used for wrap- 
ping or packing should always be 
dry; the ball of the plant only should 
be wet. 

Firms like Veitch, and Low, of Lon- 
don, take great pains in packing or- 
chids. With cattleyas they put sev- 
eral small stakes around the edge of 
the pot and a stout one in the cen- 
ter, and every leaf and bulb is secure- 
ly tied with cotton batting and raffia; 
a plant from J. Veitch & Son of Vanda 
Lowii 10 ft. high arriving in New York 
with scarcely the moss on the basket 
disturbed is pretty good evidence of 
the great care and pains that are used 
in packing these valuable plants. 

Although our firms do not charge 
for boxes or packing, in some cases 
it would be quite proper were they to 
do so. The representative of a north 
of England orchid firm was assailed 
with the charge that the English 
firms charged too much tor packing 
and we charged nothing. This was in 
Toronto in the Queens Hotel in 1891. 
He very naturally replied, not in 




Finished for closing up. 



164 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 




System of upright packing, ready for "closing in." 



coarse horse trading Yorkshire, but 
iu genteel English: "Yes. I know, but 
your folks put the charge on to the 
plants, don't you know?" Now this 
is the natural and reasonable supposi- 
tion, but yet largely it is erroneous, 
and in the great majority of cases 
nothing is tacked on for compensa- 
tion. Packing cases and boxes that 
answer the purpose cost us very little, 
far less than the same box would in 
England or on the Continent, but our 
labor, even if it is most expeditiously 
done, is higher than on the other side. 

If you buy a good bill of palms or 
large ferns or any of those decorative 
plants that are easily packed, there is 
no need of any charge for packing, 
and if a man buys 100 geraniums of 
us in the spring, we are pleased 
eno\igh to put them in a box and put 
a few slats over them. We get the 
4-inch pots and that will about pay 
for packing. We would have to cart 
them off somewhere anyway. 

But when you sell lilies or azaleas 
in full bloom, particularly the former, 
you ought to get more for them, for 
they take a heap of trouble and time 
to pack properly. Perhaps we will 
never make a specific charge for our 
packing, but there should be an un- 
derstanding that to the man who sends 
his wagon and carts them away a lily 
is worth say 10 cents per bud and 



flower, and when packed to travel 40 
miles by rail it should be 12 cents per 
bud and flower. That is what we do 
every spring and it about pays for 
the extra labor of packing, and other 
plants in proportion where much ty- 
ing and labor is needed. 

This question will of course always 



be one to be decided by ourselves, alid 
without any agreement must be left, 
like prices, to the discretion of the 
seller. The man who today advertised 
"cases and packing charged at cost," 
would get a severe blackeye, figura- 
tively speaking. 

PAEONIA. 

We sometimes laugh at our old- 
fashioned friends for calling these 
handsome perennials "Pinies," but old- 
fashioned catalogues sometimes spell 
the name "Piony," and that comes 
pretty near it. 

The cultivation of the herbaceous 
section is too well known to need any 
iengthy remarks. They should have a 
deep, rich soil; you cannot overdo it 
on either point. If planted for com- 
mercial use, four feet apart is as close 
as they should be placed. They will 
flourish for a number of years undis- 
turbed, but every fall a good sprink- 
ling of manure over the surface and 
forked or cultivated in the spring, will 
help them retain their vigor. 

The flowers of the paeonia are in 
good demand every season and if you 
have plenty of room a few hundred 
plants will be quite profitable. The 
white and different shades of pink are 
the favorites. There are hundreds of 
varieties, and many beautiful ones 
that are called single, some being quite 
single and others having a small dou- 
ble center with an exterior row of 
large petals; these are very beautiful 
and can be called the anemone sec- 
tion. 

The herbaceous paeonias are the 
hardiest of hardy plants. The best 
time to divide and transplant to in- 
crease the stock is in October and 
November, or very early in the spring, 
as soon as the frost is out of the 
ground. A small section of root with 
an eye or bud w'ill in three years make 
a large clump. When planting small 
pieces in the fall, be sure to get them 
well down in the soil; let the bud be 




'Closed in." 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



165 




Tree Paeonia Queen Elizabeth. 



an inch below the surface, for the 
frosts will be sure to raise them up. 

Paeonias seed freely and it the seed 
is sown as soon as ripe and the little 
plants kept in a cold frame the fol- 
lowing winter and planted out in the 
spring, they will flower the second 
year. For the commercial florist it is, 
however, much better to buy roots of 
both these and the tree section. 

The Tree Paeonia, as its name im- 
plies, more nearly resembles a shrub 
and the flowers surpass in beauty 
those of the herbaceous section, but 
are not so useful to the florist. They 
make beautiful specimens for the lawn, 
either singly or in groups. They are 
largely used to force for conservatory 
decoration, and are a valuable addi- 
tion to our Easter plants, though they 
can be forced as early as January. 
For forcing, good plants should be 
selected in the early spring and pot- 
ted into good sized pots or tubs and 
grown the following summer; then 
they will force with ease and satisfac- 
tion the coming winter. 

You cannot divide the tree paeonia 
at the root as you can those of the 
herbaceous section, they being grafted, 
an operation you bad better leave to 
the specialist. 

PALMS. 

These are our chief ornaments in 
the conservatory of the wealthy, or 
the room or veranda of the more hum- 
ble home. As fine ornamental plants 
they stand pre-eminently at the head. 
For many years they have been grown 
in hot-houses and conservatories, but 
it is only within thirty years that they 
became the plant for the million. In 
Europe hundreds of acres of glass is 
devoted to their culture and a very 
large area of glass in this country is 



now occupied with the raising of hun- 
dreds of thousands of small palms for 
the commercial trade. The writer is 
one who has never seen the palms 
flourish in the tropics, but I have seen 
many species in the Botanic Garden 
of Kew, where you have to ascend a 



with dark skins, a hot climate, croco- 
diles and poisonous insects, and the 
resident Caucasian among them would 
doubtless often sigh for his native ma- 
ple, pine, oak or hickory, or a handful 
of his childhood's flowers, the prim- 
rose, heather, golden rod, or trillium. 

A palm of medium size, say a kentia 
with a stem of three or four feet and 
perfect leaves, or a latania with a 
spread of ten feet and perfect, is much 
handsomer to me than the large but 
well kept specimens at Kew. L,arge 
specimens of the cocoanut palm, 
Phoenix dactylifera, Caryota urens, 
Latania borbonica, and others, we can 
remember as long as we can tops and 
marbles, but there are several of our 
most useful palms that were not then 
introduced. 

As a small ornamental plant to 
adorn the living room, there is noth- 
ing, either in beauty or hardiness, that 
compares with the palm, and it is 
these qualities that make it so uni- 
versally popular, and it is a popular- 
ity that there is not the slightest fear 
will ever recede. Years ago fine speci- 
mens were grown to be looked at, ad- 
mired and discussed, and rarely seen 
in small, uesful sizes. Now they are 
used everywhere and on all occasions. 
Besides the universal use of them to 
adorn the lawn and veranda in sum- 
mer and t'he drawing room and parlor 
in winter, they are now seen at every 
social function, marriages and funer- 
als, receptions, dances, orations and 
commencements, store openings, dog 



A 




^Ij/ 


/ 


Fa 






w^ ' /IbBH \'^fcvv 


if 






/ m| 


\ 









Latania Borbonica. 



spiral staircase to get a good view of 
these giants of the tropics. 

Grand and noble they may be with 
their gigantic leaves and plumed 
heads towering up 80 or 100 feet high, 
and novel and majestic they must first 
appear to the traveler from the tem- 
perate zones, but they are associated 



.'ihows, and Midway plaisances; some 
of the performances in the latter re- 
sorts being peculiarly Oriental, the 
palm is a most appropriate adjunct to 
the tropical dance, etc. 

Palms are widely distributed over 
the warmer parts of the globe, and 
the natives of these regions have 



i6b 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



found a use for their fruit. The Date 
Palm (Phoenix dactylitera) is the 
chief sustenance of millions. The 
milk and pulp of the coeoanut are a 
leading article of diet in all tropical 
countries. The leaves are used as 
thatch to cover huts, and the hard 
stem is utilized for building and in 
many other ways. 

Many palms do well planted out in 
the mild states of our Union. We are 
continually told by tourists of the fine 
chaniaerops and braheas that are seen 
in California, and that most splendid 
palm. Latania borbonica. thrives in 
the Channel Island, where only a few 



It would be quite interesting if some 
statistician could trace the annual in- 
crease in the output of the palms for 
the past thirty years. In this country 
at least it would (please excuse the 
simile) be not unlike the career of the 
bicycle: At first rare, and, when seen, 
stared at by multitudes. Soon those 
that could afford them purchased one. 
then as prices became more popular 
the majority had one, or, for a va- 
riety, two or three. Then, when the 
best patterns or varieties came on the 
market and manufacturers and grow- 
ers turned out so cheaply the best 
kinds, warranted not to break at the 




Kcntia Belmoreana. 



degrees of frost occurs. It is this abil- 
ity to endure a low temperature (but 
only a limited number will stand a 
frost) that makes them of such great 
value to us as decorative plants, and 
again, being natives of some of the 
warmest parts of the globe, palms like 
the kentia will thrive under the great 
changes of temperature that frequently 
occur in a living room, hot to suffoca- 
tion if baby is cold, and down to 40 
degrees if John lets the furnace get 
low. This is not the way to grow 
them, but it is their nature to survive 
these changes and makes them our un- 
equaled house plants. 



forks or turn brown on the tips, our 
errand boy takes home to his washer- 
woman mother a Kentia Belmoreana 
mounted on a $20 "Rolling Ranger" 
paid for at One dollar per week, install- 
ment plan. 

The raising of palms in this country, 
of the useful commercial kinds, is a 
large part of the business of a few of 
our largest firms. Formerly many 
thousands were imported, particularly 
kentias, but that is fast dropping off. 
for prodigious quantities are now 
grown here annually. Arecas are much 
better grown here, and so I think are 
all useful species. We may have a cold- 



er climate to contend with in winter, a 
matter of trifiing consequence in a 
house or acre of palms, and surely 
with proper care and management we 
have the right summers. We never see 
such short, sturdy, finely developed 
kentias or latanias imported as those 
grown here by some of our own firms, 
but not by all. The latanias we see 
from Belgium are handsome In ap- 
pearance, but drawn, long leaf stalks, 
and are only fit to put in a palm house 
and grow a year to accustom them to 
the treatment that we expect our 
palms to endure and come up smiling. 

The general florist who buys his 
young palms from some of the home 
firms and wants them to retail or use 
at once, as do all storekeepers who 
have no greenhouse, and the very 
great majority of greenhouse men as 
well, will find out (if that is not al- 
ready discovered) that there are palm 
growers and palm growers, and a vast 
difference there is in the quality of 
plants they send out. In very large 
establishments, where house after 
house is palms, they are manufactured 
quickly, and quality is entirely sub- 
servient to quantity. They are stood 
very close together, kept very warm 
summer and winter, altogether inade- 
quate ventilation is given, and the 
shade is of the permanent kind, if not 
kept on all the year, then at least nine 
months of the twelve. The difference 
between these* palms and those grown 
with plenty of room, abundance of 
fresh air, and shade only from the di- 
rect rays of the sun, is very marked. 
The former are run up with long leaf 
stalks, the growth is soft, and the color 
is a dull green. The properly grown 
plants, even if the temperature has 
been high, are quite different. They 
are shorter, stouter, giving the plant 
the appearance of having far more 
leaves: they are a bright shining green 
and are altogether more satisfactory 
to the purchaser, wherever you put 
them. 

These remarks cover a good deal of 
the ground relative to the culture of 
most palms. For the commercial men 
they must be grown without excessive 
heat: this is particularly true of 
arecas. They must have had plenty of 
ventilation whenever it was possible, 
room to develop their handsome leaves, 
and not made soft by a heavy shade. I 
can only see one use for these un- 
naturally grown tall kentias or lata- 
nias: they make an effective appear- 
ance at a decoration, but are so soft 
that a few journeys to "society" soon 
deprives them of their beauty. 

There is some difference of opinion 
about the advisability of standing 
palms in the broad sun. In the tropics, 
as most all of our commercial palms 
in a natural state rear their plumed 
crowns to the tropical suns, there can 
be little fear of their burning if their 
roots are in the proper condition, and 
I have proved time and again that if 
their roots are not too crowded and 
they are regularly supplied with water 
that the kentias, latanias, chamaerops 
and phoenix receive not the slightest 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



J 67 




Areca Lutescens. 

injury in tlie broad sun. If allowed to 
get dry in 10 or 12-incli pots, tiiey will 
burn, and so will a geranium in a pot 
with its roots parched. The arecas, 
the most decorative of all palms, do 
not burn, but they lose the color so 
much that it is not Tvell to put them 
out in the sun. They are better al- 
ways under glass. The phoenix are 
the least susceptible to any harm from 
wind or rain; in fact, they are grand 
plants for a vase or center of a tropi- 
cal bed. 

Temperature. 

All the palms we grow, either for 
sale or for decorative purposes, are 
natives of a warm climate, and al- 
though submitting for weeks to a 
lower temperature than they would 
ever be subject to in their native cli- 
mate, yet that is not what they should 
be grown in. Men who raise thou- 
sands of young plants to sell to the 
trade must, to make it profitable, give 
them a good, high temperature, par- 
ticularly in summer, although a slow 
grown palm is much better than one 
quickly grown. A good temperature 
for the florist who grows or keeps a 
stock of palms for sale would be 60 to 
65 degrees at night, with a rise of 15 
degrees in the day time during the 
dark days of winter, and in spring and 
summer 70 to 75 degrees at night and 
as warm as you like in the day time, 
providing you have plenty of air. 

Large palms that you keep for deco- 
rations solely are better kept not high- 
er than 55 degrees during winter. You 
don't want them to make young leaves 



while you are using them, which 
would likely be injured by a chill in 
transit in cold weather. 

Watering and Syringing. 

This same old advice must be given 
with emphasis about drainage. A 
crock and piece of green moss is 
enough for plants in a 5 or 6-inch pot, 
but when in larger, and more especial- 
ly when in very large pots or tubs 
and boxes, which they may remain in 
for four or five years, they should have 
two or three inches of drainage. If 
water passes quickly through the soil, 
whether the plant is in a 4 or 14-ineh, 
then the drainage is all right. If it 
does not, and it is slow in disappear- 
ing from the surface, then it is all 
wrong. In spring and summer, when 
making leaves fast, they want copious 
watering, but usually when thorough- 
ly watered, once a day is enough. In 
winter, with a lower temperature, 
darker days and slower growth, less 
water is needed. A gardener knows at 
a glance whether they are dry or not. 
Palms in winter want as regular wa- 
tering as in summer, but with the 
difference that after a watering they 
may remain moist for two days, while 
in summer, with the pots full of roots, 
they want a watering twice a day. 

Syringing is most essential to all 
palms. First it creates that moisture 
in the atmosphere so congenial to 



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Kentia Forsteriana. 



us 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



their gi-owth, and then again it cleans 
their foliage of insects, more especial- 
ly that nuisance, the mealy bug. It 
the house is pavetl with stone or ce- 
ment, you should syringe at least 
twice a day in summer, and frequently 
throw water about the paths and 
benches. If the floor is gravel or 
earth, there is always more or less 
moisture arising, but syringe every 
day, and when you do syringe, don't 
hold and direct the hose as if you 
were watering a bed of radishes, but 
direct your fine but strong stream up- 
wards at the underside of the leaf. 
Constant syringing on euch palms as 



ing retailer? We don"t believe it is a 
good plan and would not buy such 
plants if we were aware of it. 

Producing a large, showy palm is 
not the only object. People who give 
three or four dollars for a 6-inch ken- 
tia or latania expect them to thrive in 
the house a few weeks at least, and 
the plaintive cry of "My palm is turn- 
ing yellow" has robbed us of most of 
our hair, and we don't want to hear it. 
They must die sometime, it's true, 
when growing or existing in the house, 
but let them pass gradually away, 
fading away slowly, and then their 
demise will be taken by all hands as 




Phoenix Rupicola. 



latanias, kentias and arecas is an- 
other reason why the soil should be in 
good condition to let the water pass 
through. In winter syringe occasion- 
ally in the morning, and when firing 
hard damp down the houses, but less 
moisture is needed in winter, as the 
plants are in less active growth. 

Soil and Potting. 

I have within a few years heard of 
several of our leading palms being 
planted out in spring on a bench in 
six inches of soil and grown there dur- 
ing the summer and lifted in the fall. 
You can doubtless with great heat and 
moisture produce a latania or a kentia 
much larger in the same space of time 
that you would be growing it in a pot, 
but would it be as serviceable a plant 
in the fall? Would you not have to 
lift it early and get it well established 
before you sent it out to the confid- 



complacently as the departure of an 
elderly wealthy aunt. 

Palms thrive in a small pot com- 
pared to the size of plant, and should 
not be given a large shift at once. 
Growers of large quantities shift on 
as the plants need it at any time of 
year, but the fiorist who keeps only a 
few hundred had better do his shifting 
in the months of March and April, 
when there is a constantly increasing 
temperature. Always pot firmly. Up 
to a 5 or 6-inch size this can be done 
l)y squeezing the soil with your fin- 
gers, but in large size, and particu- 
larly if the shift is small, a blunt stick 
will help very much to firm the soil. 
Some writers say that roots never 
should be cut. Perhaps there is no 
need of it, but I have seen the roots 
of latanias and old seaforthias chopped 
off without doing any harm. 

Never pot too deep. The base of the 
stem from where the roots begin is 



easily defined, and they should not be 
potted below that. Some species, ken- 
tia for one, raises the stem by Its 
strong roots. When shifting, lower the 
plant to the base of stem, but not 
lower. It is never advisable to shift 
a plant, say from a 6 to an 8-inch, just 
before selling it to your customer; far 
better let it go in the smaller pot and 
tell them it will do very well in that 
pot till spring, but give it plenty of 
water. 

Palms do not seem particular about 
soil, and the mica so often seen in the 
potting soil used about Philadelphia 
appears to agree with them very well. 
I would consider the ideal soil or com- 
post for palms to be a rather stiff 
yellow loam sod, cut and laid up in 
summer, and between every foot of 
the sod a layer of two inches of cow 
manure. When this was thoroughly 
soaked, and after a month or so, cut it 
down and chop over, and in a few 
weeks give it another turn. By that 
time the manure will have about dis- 
appeared, and the compost will grow 
any palm. A good supply of this 
should be under cover during winter 
for early spring use. If you cannot 
make these preparations, get a fresh 
loam and add a sixth of well decayed 
manure. Bone meal is often used with 
palms, and if a quick growth is desired 
it can be added to the compost at the 
rate of one pound to a bushel. 

Insects' 

If a proper degree of moisture is 
maintained and syringing properly 
done, red spider and thrip is seldom 
seen. If thrip is very persistent, then 
vaporize with tobacco several succes- 
sive nights. Mealy bug is sometimes 
very troublesome and more often when 
the plants are crowded. If not re- 
moved by ordinary syringing, then 
have the plants brought to some near- 
by place, where water runs off quick- 
ly, and by laying the plant down and 
turning it on all sides with a sharp, 
strong stream they can be washed 
clean off. 

Scale is the worst enemy we have to 
contend with, and the common brown 
scale is much easier removed than the 
white. I mention these two. for that 
is sufficient here, because the remedy 
would be the same were there twenty 
species of these insects on our palms; 
and there are not only twenty, but per- 
haps twenty hundred species known 
to entomologists. It appears they do 
not multiply with anything like the 
rapidity of the aphides. That is a con- 
solation. And they breed and lay a 
crop of eggs but once a year. So if 
the palms are thoroughly cleaned, say 
in August, you should see no more of 
them for another six months. It is 
often supposed that they are without 
the power of locomotion, but when 
very young in the larval state they 
creep about till they find a comfortable 
spot, then Insert their beak into the 
leaf or bark, and that is their resi- 
dence for life. Entomologists say that 
the ants which feed on the excretion 
of the scales take the young insects 



The FLORISTS' Manual 



169 




Livistona Rotundilolia. 



stock over and above what has been 
ordered, much to the detriment of the 
stock as well as the senders. 

"The florist who would have clean 
stock must in the first place keep all 
his own plants pei'fectly free from 
these pests, and whenever a new con- 
signment of plants is received take 
such measures with them as will in- 
sure their being thoroughly clean be- 
fore introducing them among those al- 
ready In his possession. As a preven- 
tive against introducing foreign-bred 
scale or mealy bug into houses, we 
would suggest the following method: 
If the plants are not more than two 
or three feet in height, have a suitable 
sized vessel filled with luke-warm wa- 
ter, to which has been added fir tree 
oil in the proportion of one-half pint 
to ten gallons of water. As the plants 
are unpacked and before they are pot- 
ted dip them thoroughly overhead in 
the mixture (excepting the ball, of 
course), being sure to immerse the 
plant right down to the neck. Plants 
too large for this treatment may be 
.■-■ponged or syringed thoroughly with 
the same concoction, After this treat- 
ment pot them up, syringe with clear 
v.'ater, giving them an isolated posi- 
tion — quarantining them. So to speak — 
until one is satisfied that they are per- 
fectly clean. If after a few days live 
scales are still observed and the plants 
are in too large numbers to go over 
them by hand, take five gallons of 



and plant them on different parts of 
the leaves of palms and ferns. If this 
is so, then we should get rid of the 
ants. 

There are several means of remov- 
ing the scales by washing with some 
insecticide, and when you wash the 
leaves, see that every part is thor- 
oughly cleaned. You can see the large 
scales, but the very small might elude 
you. Sponge with warm water, to 
which has been added two ounces of 
whale oil soap in two gallons of water. 

A solution of two ounces of kerosene 
emulsion in five gallons of water. 
Sponge. 

Water to which has been added a 
hundredth of its bulk of "Nikoteen." 

A weak solution of fir tree oil is 
also recommended by some. 

Yon cannot with any effect syringe 
these solutions on the plants. They 
must be sponged; and remember that 
the very young leaves will not endure 
as strong a mixture as the matured 
leaf, and the leaf stalks are uninjured 
by a still stronger solution. 

The following appeared in a recent 
number of a horticultural journal, and 
is, I think, worth insertion here. The 
white scale we get from Europe on 
imported plants is certainly a very bad 
species, and although a free trader, I 
would put a very high tariff on him: 

"The sending out of palms and ferns 
afflicted either with mealy bug or 
scale is much to be deplored, but the 
number of complaints that reach us 
from time to time would indicate that 
some houses continue to supply their 
customers with a quantity of live 




Latania Rubra. 



11 



170 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



luke-warm water, add one-half pint of 
fir tree oil and syringe again; or make 
up a less quantity and sponge them 
with it. By treating infested plants 
when they first arrive, it will be found 
that the pests can be combated much 
easier than if the work is deterred, 
while at the same time the danger of 
the insects spreading to other stock is 
greatly minimized." 

Propagation. 

Palms are always raised from seed. 
Of our commercial species the cham- 
aerops and rhapis can be propagated 
by suckers, but all our leading palms 
grow easily from seed, which is now 
imported in large quantities, and it 
must be quite an industry, the gather- 
ing of the seed where the several spe- 
cies flourish. The seeds, which are 
large (the kentia as big as the com- 
mon, acorn, and the cocoanut will fill 
out a vest pocket) are sown in any 
light soil in flats or pans. A mixture 
of leaf mould, sand and loam in equal 
parts will do finely. Just cover the 
seeds, and place the pans over some 
heat. If the compost is at a temper- 
ature of 75 to 80 degrees, the seeds 
will germinate much quicker than at 
60 degrees. Keep them moist but not 
saturated. 

When they have made one or two 



leaves at most, pot off singly in 2 or 
2%-inch pots. Don't pot them too 
deep; just to the base of the young 
plant. Keep close and warm till they 
get started in their new surroundings. 
Young palms for the first few months 
take up little room, as they can stand 
close together, and I should have add- 
ed that the seed can be sown very 
thickly, as the young growths go 
straight up and do not interfere with 
each other at all. 

For the first year young palms will 
grow slowly if kept in a shaded house 
without fire heat during summer, for 
these houses get very dull and cool. 
The cool nights lower the tempera- 
ture and the heavy shade prevents 
the sun from raising it in the day 
time. A hot-bed with the sash shaded 
will bring them along fast in the sum- 
mer months, but I would prefer a little 
fire heat in the palm house every 
night in the year. Having a few palms 
and orchids that I wished to treat 
properly this summer I have never 
been a night without fire heat, and I 
am sure it pays. This is not forcing 
them because we also have the ven- 
tilators up. It is giving them only a 
genial heat and good circulation of 
air. Young palms that are expected 
to grow should have fire heat every 
night in the year and ventilation too. 




Kentia Dumoineana. 



Not as I have seen in some plant man- 
ufacturing establishments, fire heat 
with ventilators shut, 75 degrees out- 
side and 110 degrees inside. 

Shading. 

In this place I might say what I 
should have done sooner, a few words 
about shading. I believe Mr. W. K. 
Harris tried French plate glass, and 
with clear glass the sun did not burn 
the palms. We are not likely to adopt 
that quality of glass, as it is too ex- 
pensive. Ordinary window glass is out 
of our reach at present. Our double 
thick glass which is commonly used 
will burn our palms and some shade 
is necessary. I should really think 
that with those firms who make a spe- 
cialty of palms by the tens of thou- 
sands that some portable or adjusta- 
ble shading could be used; perhaps 
it is by some. We all know the great 
advantages of it. But if it can't be 
used then be careful and don't put on 
too heavy a coat of paint early in the 
season. A very thin coat of naphtha 
and white lead will do, and thicker 
can be added in May. 

I often think we are very careless 
about leaving our summer shade on 
till late in the fall. If storms have not 
washed it off you will see frequently 
the glass very opaque till early No- 
vember. Now, did you ever think how 
the first of November corresponded 
for strength of sun with the spring 
days? The sun on November first 
would be the same as it would Febru- 
ary the 10th. Who would think of 
shading on the latter date? And then 
again the plants are better prepared 
to endure the sun's rays in autumn 
than in spring. So early in September 
brush or scrub off part of your shad- 
ing, and by end of the month have it 
all off, particularly over your palms, 
and I can't think of anything that 
then needs shade unless it be orchids 
in bloom or your cutting bed. 

Varieties. 

To attempt to give a long list of 
palms is quite unnecessary. There are 
so many genera and species that even 
encyclopedias don't attempt to name 
them. The commercial kinds are 
rather limited and familiar to most of 
my readers, but how few these are 
when you consider the hundreds of 
species of this noble family, many of 
which are worthy a place in. any col- 
lection. In mentioning some of the 
leading palms it is not easy to decide 
which to place first, for the graceful 
and finest decorative palm is not al- 
ways the hardiest or best house plant, 
the latter a most important question 
with us. Nearly every florist has had 
some experience with a few palms 
and has decided for himself which 
suits him or his trade best. 

The names I have used are those by 
which we familiarly know them, and 
it would be little use to call Latania 
borbonica "Livistona chinensis," for 
our customers know it as latania and 
they don't care about a lesson in long, 
crooked names. Call it the Chinese 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



171 




Kentia Canterburyana. 



fan palm and they would remember it. 
People who don't know Begonia Rex 
by name know it very well as the 
"beefsteak geranium." That must 
have originated in the packing house 
district of Chicago, but It's about as 
elegant as that invented by an ex- 
horse car driver, a young Irishman 
whom I set to moving some begonias, 
and in an hour or so he informed me 
he had "got through with the big- 
onions." 

The leading commercial palms are 
Kentia Belmoreana and K. Forsteri- 
ana. These well known palms are de- 
s?rvedly the most popular of all. 
Quick growing, splendid plants for 
the house, beautiful either when one 
foot high or twenty feet. Behnoreana 
is dwarfer and more compact than 
Forsteriana and has graceful recurved 
leaves when well grown. This plant 
with light and room to spread is the 
very perfection of form. Forsteriana 
is more erect, but similar in all other 
respects, and makes a fine palm for 
large decorations. Both endure the 
extremes of temperature, but no frost, 
and all other unfavorable conditions 
better than any other palms, the 
phoenix alone excepted. Other spe- 
cies not so valuable commercially, but 
making fine specimens are, K. Baueri, 
K. Canterburyana, K. Lindenii, K. 



McArthurii, K. Mooreana, K. 'Wend- 
laudiana. 

Areca lutescens. This magnificent 
palm is unrivalled as a decorative 
plant. It has bright, shining golden 
stems, with feathery and most grace- 
ful leaves. It grows quickly and soon 
makes plants of a fine decorative size. 
They are often planted three or four 
in a pot, but even without that the 
plant has the habit of sending outside 
shoots from base of stem and large 
plants are soon thick masses of foliage 
crowned with the most graceful of 
curving fronds. It is not quite equal 
as a house plant to the kentias. Other 
species are A. alba, A. rubra, A. sapida. 
A. Verschaffeltii. All fine, graceful 
palms. 

Latania borbonica (Livistona chi- 
nensis). This palm had been in com- 
merce many years, before the kentia 
and areca were known, and is familiar 
to all. Its broad, bright shining 
leaves suggest the use that is made of 
the leaf. It is the Chinese fan palm. 
It withstands heat or cold, even a 
few degrees of frost. It has always 
been a standard decorative plant as 
well as a favorite palm for the living 
room. Perfect specimens make fine 
objects in decorating, especially when 
placed in a vase or where the whole 



outline and expanse of the plant can 
be seen. 

There is a form of this with light 
yellow stems and leaves, a beautiful 
palm known as L. borbonica aurea. 

Phoenix. These are not considered 
as fine decorative plants as the arecas 
and kentias, although as small speci- 
mens they are most beautiful. Yet 
they are the hardiest of all palms. 
They will thrive in a vase or jar or 
tropical bed in the broad sun without 
losing a particle of color, and as a 
house plant, among palms, they are 
unequalled. They also seem to bear 
the tying and untying and the crowd- 
ing and wear and tear of a decoration 
better than any other palms we have 
ever handled. For any unfavorable 
situation that a palm can be expected 
to thrive at all recommend a phoenix. 
Some beautiful species are not com- 
mon among us, iDut they should be. 
The principal species are: 

P. rupicola. Wide spreading, weep- 
ing leaf stems, with finely divided 
leaves. A rapid grower, most grace- 
ful and most durable. A pair of these 
we have in mind have within the past 
six years been 500 times packed and 
unpacked and withstood heat and cold, 
gas and dust, and still stand today in 
the broad sun with their arching 
fronds perfect. 

P. leonensis, or spinosa. Habit 
slightly stiffer than rupicola, very 
handsome, with dark shining color of 
leaf. This is a species we do not see 
often enough. As a small plant it is 
most ornamental. 

P. dactylifera. The date palm. Not 
quite so graceful but strong, robust, 
dark shiny foliage; splendid for large 
decorations or for summer ornament 
in any position outside. 

Other species of useful phoenix are 
P. pumila, P. canariensis, P. tenuis, 
P. farinifera. 

Cocos Weddeliana. ^This little gem 
of a palm, for such it is, is now raised 
in immense quantities. It has when 
but six or eight inches high all the 
grace and beauty of a plant three feet 
high, and for that reason it is held in 
the highest esteem for the center of 
small ferneries. When these dinner 
table decorations are returned with 
the ferns dried and dead the cocos 
still looks perfect. Larger specimens 



Established 1857. 



Pbone Lake View 136 



GROWER AND IMPORTER 



GEO. WinBOLD, 

D IMPORTER 

Palms 
Ferns 




and 



Largest Stock oi 
Tropical Plaats 
in the West. 

OFFICE .-VND S.\LESROOM, 

1708 North Halsted Street, - CHICAGO. 

Write for our Price List. 

Address all communication^; to 

i70» North Halsted Street. 



172 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



make fine decorative plants aad they 
thrive admirably in the dry air of a 
living room. 

Livistona rotundifolia. This neat 
little palm could be called a miniature 
Latania borbonica. It makes a dwarf, 
rounded plant, most charming for its 
neatness. Small plants but eight or 
nine inches high have a great number 
of short, rounded leaves. This little 
palm makes a splendid table plant, 
and in many other positions in deco- 



fine decorative appearance ani are 
not easily hurt by the vicissitudes of 
our treatment, and are all good house 
plants. 

Other genera that are well known, 
handsome palms ^nd not scarce, are: 

Acanthophoenix crinita. Tall, spread- 
ing, handsome fronds. The stems are 
densely armed with black needle- 
shaped spines. 

Astrocaryum. A genus from tropical 
South America, There are several spe- 




Phoenix Pumila. 



rations it can be used with good ef- 
fect. 

The above palms include the prin- 
cipal species recommended to our 
patrons for conservatory or house cul- 
ture and used in decorating. There 
may be other palms equalling them 
in beauty and grandeur (Pritchardia 
grandis is one of the most striking 
and noblest of palms), but these spe- 
cies have been selected and grown in 
such enormous quantities because they 
have the necessary qualities. Th3y 
are easily and quickly raised, have a 



cies. The Muru-Muru palm Is best 
known. They attain a height of forty 
feet. The leaves are dark green above 
and silvery white below. A. argen- 
teum is described as one of the best 
silvery palms. 

Carludovica. This is a useful genus. 
Several of the species are used for 
sub-tropical gardening. The fronds are 
erect and stiff and the plant has the 
appearance of a small latania. Two 
fine species are C. palmata and C. atro- 
virens. 

Caryota. This is a fine, noble genus. 



They would not add to our list of deco- 
rative palms, but should be in every 
collection. They have large, much di- 
vided fronds, the leaves having their 
ends resembling a fish's tail. Two fine 
species easily procured are C. soboli- 
fera and C. urens. 

Ceroxylon niveum. Often called the 
Wax Palm. From the Andes. Hand- 
some for sub-tropical gardening, and 
thrives in a cool greenhouse in winter. 

Chamaerops. Low growing, com- 
pact palms. C. humilis is one of the 
very few palms found in Europe. It 
has short stems, with a much divided 
leaf, which is long, narrow and erect. 
The whole bush, as it appears, makes 
it splendid for a vase in a conspicuous 
place, or the very ideal plant when 
two or three feet high and as much 
through, for a tropical bed. C. macro- 
carpa is a very robust species, fine for 
any purpose where humilis is useful. 
C. excelsa is a grand, hardy palm. 

Cocos nucifera is the cocoanut palm. 
It has fine fronds of a bright, glossy 
green, but would be useful only as an 
ornament to the palm house. Aus- 
tralis and fiexuosa are two ornamental 
species. The handsome little Wed- 
deliana has received notice. 

Corypha australis. A low growing, 
compact, hardy palm. Makes a fine 
plant. 

Euterpe. Tall growing, graceful 
palms. Would not be as useful as the 
kentias for decoration, E. edulis and 
E. montana are the best. 

Geonoma. A very large genus of 
low growing hot house palms. All the 
species are handsome, but not to be 
recommended as house plants. The 
species gracilis has handsome slender 
fronds, resembling those of Cocos 
Weddeliana. 

Martinezia. Medium growing palms, 
the segments of the leaf resembling 
those of the caryota or fish tail palms. 
Caryotaefolia and erosa are two of the 
most useful species. 

Oreodoxa regia. From Cuba. Tall, 
rather slender stem, with large spread- 
ing fronds. Before the introduction of 
the kentias this palm was in great 
esteem. Useful in sheltered places for 
tropical gardening. O. oleracea is the 
cabbage palm of the West Indies, and 
there are several other species. 

Phoenicophorium sechellarum or 
Stevensonia grandifolia. This hand- 
some palm is from the island of Mau- 
ritius and should be always warm; it 
thrives in a moisture charged atmos- 
phere. It would not be either a house 
or a decorative plant, but where there 
are the proper conditions for its 
growth it is one of the most handsome 
of all. H. Siebrecht & Son say of it: 
"It has grand dark green fluted foliage 
of immense size, exceedingly glossy, 
and dotted with many minute orange 
colored spangles. The stems also are 
of orange color and covered with long 
black spines. Justly considered one of 
the handsomest and most imposing of 
the whole race." 

Pritchardia. This is a most impos- 
ing genus, but should always be kept 
in the palm house. The leaves are 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



J 73 



large and broad, fluted, and a deep 
green. The leaves ot P. grandis when 
well grown are five feet across. They 
make but a short stem or trunk, but 
send out many ot their remarkable 
leaves. P. grandis (or Licuala gran- 
dis) is the finest. P. pacifica. Dark 
green leaves, covered with a white 
down when young; a fine species. Sev- 
eral other species are in commerce. 

Ptychosperma Alexandrae and P. 
Cunninghamiana, These are known as 
the Australian feather palms. Tall 
palms of rapid growth, with fine arch- 
ing fronds. In general appearance they 
resemble the kentias, but they are 
coarser in growth and much softer, 
and will not endure the rough treat- 
ment that the kentia will, which for all 
commercial purposes is much superior. 
But for tall palm houses the ptycho- 
spermas soon make fine specimens. P. 
Cunninghamiana was for years known 
as Seaforthia elegans, and was twenty 
years ago our main decorative palm, 
but is entirely superseded by the ken- 
tias. 

Rhapis. A useful genus of but a 
very few species. The plants spread 
and send up several straight, erect 
stems, large plants forming clumps, 
which can be divided, or the young 
plants taken off as they appear. The 
stems from near the ground are 
clothed with leaves, giving the plant a 
thick, bushy appearance. The rhapis 
are very hardy and useful for decorat- 
ing, and can be used on the lawn or in 




Areca Baueri. 




^ 








Verschaffeltia Splendida. 



the tropical garden in summer. Rhapis 
' fiabelliformis is the most useful. R. 
humilis is almost identical, but small- 
er. 

Sabal. This is our native palmetto 
palm, which grows so abundantly in 
our southern states. When growing at 
its best it has a trunk of thirty to 
forty feet, and leaves six to eight feet 
long. There are several species, na^ 
lives of Central and South America, 
but they are not of any special value 
to the commercial florist. 

I have never mentioned the flower 
of the palm, that feature by which 
botanists classify them into genera, 
because we don't cultivate palms all 
our lives, and grow them to be large 
plants without ever seeing a palm in 
flower. Most species attain a great 
size and are many years old before 
they flower, but true flowers they do 
have, we know, for we eat the fruit of 
the phoenix (the date) and the seed ot 
the cocos (the cocoanut), and the seed 
or nut of many others are edible. 

In conclusion, let me give my opin- 
ion that the use of palms, great as it is 
at present, is yet to be largely in- 
creased. The supply of the useful kinds 
has barely kept up with the demand. 

The return to the greenhouse of a 
scrubby palm to be doctored or recu- 
perated is one of the disagreeable feat- 
ures of our business, and must be left 
entirely to the discretion of yourself. 
You don't like to offend, but you must 
be firm in this case. If a plant is in 
fair order and the customer wants you 
to keep it while they are away, that 



174 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



is all right, if you charge for it by the 
month, as we do. But when a kentia 
or latania is brought home with two 
small leaves and a diseased center, 
write immediately to the owners and 
tell them that it would take Tour years 
to make a respectable looking plant of 
their palm, and the charge wou'.d be 
three times the cost of a healthy plant 
of the same size. By that plain but 
truthful and respectful information you 
will usually get a telephone order to 



We have noticed ourselves plants of 
utilis in rooms far away from the light 
of the windows doing well if kept very 
dry. When growing fast they want 
plenty of water, but if you have to 
winter them in a cool greenhouse, say 
below 60 degrees, then be very sparing 
of water during the dark months. 

They are undoubtedly two of the 
most satisfactory plants we can sell 
our customers. 

From the fact that the pandanus are 




Cocos Weddeliana. 



"do what you like with it," which 
means throw it away. If not, and you 
must attempt to make a plant ^f it, 
the least you can charge would be one 
dollar per square foot of bench room 
per annum that its spread of leaves 
occupied. But let us hope you will 
have very little of it, for the sight of 
a lot of scrubby, half dead palms is 
most depressing, and the occup.nion of 
janitor of a pesthouse would bo pre- 
ferred to their care. 

PANDANUS. 

For many years past some few spe- 
cies of pandanus have occupied quite 
a prominent place among decorative 
plants, and this is deservedly so from 
the fact that the members of this 
genus in general are not difficuH to 
manage, and are also quite rapid grow- 
ers under favorable conditions. 

The well known P. Veitchii and P. 
utilis are two of our very best house 
plants. The late Peter Henderson on 
passing a plant of the P. utilis in the 
hall of his residence, remarked: "The 
best house plant I know of," and Mr. 
W. K. Harris observed to the writer a 
few years ago: "Yes, the best house 
plant there is, both of them if they 
get water once a month only." "You 
mean once a week, Mr. H." "No, I 
don't. I mean once a month." 



natives of the tropics, a rather n'gh 
temperature is required to secure the 
best results, a night temperature of 
05 to 70 degrees being best adapted 
to their needs, and during the winter 
months little or no shading is needed, 
especially for the variegated species. 

A good loam enriched with old m.i 
nure forms a satisfactory soil, and as 
the plants make many coarse roots it 
is foimd best not to pot them too firm 
ly, and during the summer to give an 
■abundance of water. If grown in a 
moist atmosphere there is but little 
need for syringing overhead, and p ir- 
ticularly during the winter an excess 
of water may lead to an attack cf 
"spot," if coupled with an accidental 
low temperature at the same period. 

Propagation is effected by means of 
cuttings of those species that sucker 
freely, and also by seeds. Where side 
shoots or suckers can be obtainsd 
there is but little difficulty in rooting 
them at any season, this operation be- 
ing quickened (as in the case of a 
pine-apple) by keeping the cutl;ini;s 
rather on the side of dryness until 
they are calloused, and by giving them 
a fair amount of bottom heat. 

Seeds should be planted in light soil, 
and placed in a warm house, and the 
seeds should preferably be set with the 
bottom end up, this being the end 



from which the germs emerge. These 
seeds are somewhat peculiar, being 
closely set in a more or less globular 
mass that hangs down on a stout stem, 
while the individual seeds, or rather 
fruits, are compound, and often con- 
tain 8 or 10 germs, the latter being en- 
closed in cells of a tough, horny sub- 
stance within the body of the fruit. 
Soaking of the seeds is sometimes re- 
sorted to prior to planting them, but 1 
have not found any gain in rapidity of 
germination after soaking seeds of P. 
utilis for 48 hours in tepid water. 

The most useful and most widely 
known species in cultivation at the 
present time are doubtless P. Veitchii 
and P. utilis, the first named being un- 
questionably among the best varie- 
gated plants for decorative purposes, 
while its endurance as a house plant 
depends largely on the conditions un- 
der which it has been grown, tor soft 
and sappy specimens have an unfortu- 
nate habit of rotting off at times. 

P. Veitchii has been in cultivation 
for the past thirty years, and has 
proved itself one of the most satisfac- 
tory introductions among fo'.iage 
plants of the famous London firm 
whose name it bears. 

The second species in importance in 
the trade is P. utilis, a species that has 
been in cultivation longer than the 
preceding, and is usually to be had in 
much greater quantities owing to the 
readiness with which seeds may be ob- 
tained and germinated. This species, 
like P. Veitchii. is native in some of 
the South Sea islands, notably Mada- 
gascar and the island of Bourbon, and 
on the latter island P. utilis is said to 
reach a height of 60 feet, forming a 
much branched tree. 

The specific name of this pandanus, 
utilis, which signifies useful, seems to 
be especially applicable to the plant in 
Mauritius, where it is cultivated for 
its leaves, these being used in weaving 
the coarse matting from which sugar- 
bags are made. 

As a florist's plant P. utilis is most 
useful in small sizes, for example in 
pots of 4-inch to 8-inch sizes, there be- 
ing but a limited demand for plants 
larger than these. 

This species is a rapid grower, and 
requires generous treatment in regard 
to soil and watering, and gives but lit- 
tle trouble in Its management, unless 
it may be in those cases where an out- 
break of "spot" is developed. The lat- 
ter trouble is caused by the burrowing 
of a minute insect in the tissues of the 
leaf, and its progress seems to be fav- 
ored by overwatering. If plants become 
badly affected with this disease it is 
most profitable to throw them away at 
once, as they are likely to be perma- 
nently disfigured by it, but light at- 
tacks may be satisfactorily treated by 
keeping the plants somewhat drier and 
dosing them with sulphur. 

P. candelabrum variegatum. perhaps 
more readily recognized under the 
name of P. Javanicus var.. is another 
handsome variegated form, and a 
more recent introduction than P. Veit- 
chii, having been introduced from Java 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



175 



in 1875. Our illustration indicates the 
very graceful habit of this plant, the 
leaves of which are narrow and pen- 
dulous, and grow to a length of 3 to 
6 feet, the white variegation being 
very clear and sharply defined on the 
dark green ground color. Unfortunate- 
ly this plant is very thoroughly armed, 
the leaves being edged with sharp 
spines, while the midrib possesses an- 
other line of spines which are turned 
the reverse way to those on the edges, 
thus making it almost impossible to 
handle the plant without getting 
caught. 

P. candelabrum var. forms side 
growths freely even in a young state, 
and cuttings made from these growths 
root readily, but owing to its abund- 
ance of spines it has never become a 
very popular plant in the trade. 

P. graminifolius is one of the small 
growing pandanus that has been 
found useful to a limited extent in the 
trade, being at its best in a 4-inch or 
5-inch pot, and only reaching a height 
of 2 to 3 feet when fully developed. 
This species is of tufted habit, being 
much branched, and having dark 
green leaves about halt an inch wide, 
not so stiff as those of most of the 
species of pandanus and armed with 
short whitish spines. 

P. graminifolius is readily increased 
by means of cuttings, and iu small 
plants may be considered among avail- 
able stock for the centers of fern pans. 
The illustration has been prepared 
from a good photograph of this plant, 
and gives an excellent idea of its gen- 
eral character. 



this species is lighter in color and 
slightly glaucous, a well grown plant 
forming a noble specimen. 

P. heterocarpus is rather susceptible 
to overwatering during the winter, 
and in that case may develop "spcit," 



five of the Philippine Islands, from 
whence it was introduced about 1866. 
P. reilexus is another notably hand- 
some species, and though one of the 
oldest in cultivation is by no means 
common. This species produces very 




Pandanus Utilis. 




Pandanus Veitchii. 



P. heterocarpus, also known as P. 
ornatus, is one of the handsomest of 
the green leaved pandanus, being a 
strong growing species with broad, 
dark green foliage, edged with whitish 
spines. The under side of the leaves of 



but with a little caution in that partic- 
ular there is no special difficulty in its 
culture. I have never seen this species 
produce suckers, and it seems probable 
that the only means of increase is 
from seeds. P. heterocarpus is a na- 



long and pendulous leaves, in a large 
specimen often growing 5 to 6 feet in 
length, dark green and shining and 
profusely armed with strong spines, 
those on the under side of the midrib 
being turned the opposite direction to 
those on the edges of the leaves, simi- 
larly to the arrangement of spines on 
P. candelabrum. 

The leaves of P. reflexus are so much 
recurved that they frequently hide the 
pot in a well-grown plant, and really 
have a very graceful effect, as will be 
readily seen from our illustration, but 
owing to its ever-ready armor of 
spines this plant is a most unpleasant 
one to handle, and is consequently not 
likely to become a popular one. 

P. Vandermeechii is a comparative- 
ly rare species that would probably be 
useful in the trade if grown in quan- 
tity, being of somewhat similar char- 
acter to P. utilis, but stouter in growth 
and usually more upright. The leaves 
of P. Vandermeechii are broad and 
stiff, dark green and slightly glaucous, 
the edges of the leaves and also the 

John Welsh Young, 

Wholesale Grower of 

PANDANUS VEITCHII. 



Upsal Station, 
Penna. R, R. 



Germantown, 
PHILADELPHIA, PA 



176 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



spines being dark red, and the same 
color appearing to some extent about 
the base of the leaves. 

This species forms a very effective 
specimen, but does not appear to pro- 
duce any suckers, and propagation 
must therefore depend on seeds. P. 
Vandermeechii was introduced from 
the island of Bourbon, and is said to 
be peculiar to that island, though 
quite plentiful there. 

Among novelties of the pandanus 
family that have been grown to some 
extent of late years are P. Baptistii 



pointed leaves. It requires heat in 
winter and does not like the hot suns 
of summer, or anything like dryness. 
Warmth and moisture are conditions 
that suit it. It makes a very pretty 
basket plant for a shaded house in 
summer, either entirely filling the bas- 
ket, or with other plants. Its varie- 
gation is very pretty. 

Its cultivation is of the simplest kind 
as it roots from cuttings most easily, 
eitlier in the sand or a few pieces put 
around the edge of a small pot in any 
ordinary soil. Excepting as a conser- 




Pandanus Candelabrum Var. (Javanicus Var. ) 



and P. caricosus, but while both these 
species are attractive, neither is of 
much value commercially. 

P. Baptistii is a rapid growing plant, 
the leaves of which are striped with 
yellowish variegation, and in some 
measure resembling the foliage of 
Phormium tenax var., but without the 
toughness of that plant. 

P. caricosus is more dwarf in habit 
than the preceding, and has narrow 
green leaves that are but little armed 
with spines. It branches freely, and 
might be briefly described as a very 
strong P. graminifolius. though per- 
haps less useful than the latter for 
trade purposes. 

PANICUM VARIEGATUM. 

A very pretty free growing, creeping 
plant with white and pink striped 



vatory basket plant, or for planting 
in borders among palms and ferns in 
a permanent border under glass, it has 
no special value to the florist. 

There are several other species of 
panicum. ornamental, and useful to the 
private gardener. 

PANSY (VIOLA TRICOLOR). 

Next to the geranium perhaps the 
pansy is more universally known 
among rich and poor than any flower 
we grow. It is a favorite with all 
children. "My little boy wants some 
pansies," we hear continually every 
spring. And the old boy and girl must 
be made of queer stuff if they are not 
fascinated with the pretty faces of the 
"Heartsease." An M. D. of our city 
has written some very pretty verses 
in which he claims that in the varied 



markings of the pansy he sees the 
faces of the German, French, English, 
Scotch, Irish, and Italian girl, and oth- 
er nationalities which I forget. He fail- 
ed to find one that reflected the bronzy 
features of our Pocahontas-like Indian 
maiden, the real American girl, al- 
though there is every shade of flower 
and girl from white to sooty black. 
His verses were too early for him to 
include the latest American beauties, 
the Filipino and the brown senorita 
of the Gem of the Antilles. As there 
are several types of our American 
girls he has taken a large pale blue to 
impersonate the Boston type, and a 
large ragged edged yellow with a 
black eye for Chicago. 

Poets have attended to the pansy 
thousands of times, and the modern 
sentimental song writer says: "Only 
a pansy blossom, only a faded flower." 
I think this song has something in al- 
lusion to a lamented maternal parent. 
Now did you ever notice, good reader, 
that the youth who never or seldom 
works but who holds down a chair in 
some third class drinking place all day 
where a stray treat or two falls to his 
lot, and towards closing time a suffi- 
cient number of treats has excited his 
vocal powers and then with a squeak, 
or a rasp, with sloppy eyes and ex- 
pression we are edified with a few 
verses, and it is not a song for the oc- 
casion, such as "We won't go home 
'till morning," or something appro- 
priate, but it is sure to be something 
about "dear mother." The gist of the 
song is sure to be how he loves and 
cherishes and works for mother, and 
admonishes all to do likewise. Nothing 
is said about father, but the motto of 
the house that this young man stag- 
gers home to is: "Do not worry father; 
mother's working." 

The pansy has been cultivated in the 
gardens of Europe for ages. If its ex- 
pressive features could speak it could 
tell you that its ancestors saw the 
dreadful deeds of the dark ages, the 
chivalry but barbarism of the feudal 
system, the oppression and torture of 
bigotry, the fight for liberty, the eman- 
cipation by education of the masses, 
and now at the close of this 19th cen- 
tury, in this "age of reason'' and hu- 
manity, you see the humble but free 
citizen taking home his basket of pan- 
sies to make his little garden prettier 
and to please the children. 

The cooler climate of northern 
Europe is much more favorable for 
pansies in the summer months than 
our hot and often dry summers. But 
I have seen beds of pansies here on the 
north side of buildings, with the seed 
pods picked off and an occasional good 
watering, look fine the entire summer. 
Whether they last longer than July or 
not there will always be a demand for 
them, not only in the cities, but the 
farmers and residents of our villages 
buy them for their door yards and 
there is where you often see them well 
taken care of. I have frequently heard 
Mrs. Buckwheat exclaim, "I guess, 
Mariah, you didn't wet them 'ere pan- 
sies last night. I see they be a drupen." 



The FLORISTS' manual. 



177 



They are raised in very large quan- 
tities by some farmer-gardeners and 
sent to our cities in small baskets 
holding one dozen plants, and usually 
sold at the popular price of 25 cents 
per dozen. 

For this purpose the seed is sown in 
beds out of doors the end of July. 
Kept watered they come along all 
right and make showy little plants. 
End of August or early September 
they are transplanted into beds four or 
five feet across and as long as you like, 
and the plants three or four inches 
apart. Usually with plenty of snow 
during our coldest months these strong 
plants (for they are strong plants in 
flower before winter comes) come 
through all right, and a warm rain or 
two and a few fine days in April and 
they are gay again and quickly start 
to grow, and are mostly sold in May. 

Last winter was a scorcher, and 
when you get two weeks zero and be- 
low on bare ground it goes hard with 
these little plants: thousands perished. 
Some straw, very thinly laid between 
the plants will help a great deal. It 
will catch the fast driving, drifting 
snow that otherwise would fly along 
to join the other particles at the fence 
row. Hemlock boughs with their 
arching stems upwards is an excellent 
covering, it does not lie heavily on the 
plants. Whatever you use don't put it 
on early; there is never any harm 
done till middle of November. 

Florists who have a demand tor 
some good pansies by end of April, 




Pandanus Reflexus. 




either tor those who have the good 
sense to plant early or for vases in our 
cemeteries, should sow not later than 
middle of August. You can sow in 
cold-frame and shade the seed bed, but 
uncover as soon as well up or the little 
plants will be drawn. 

Middle of September transplant into 
a cold-frame four or five inches apart, 
and after one good watering seldom 
anything more is needed till first of 
December, or even later if winter keeps 
off. Then cover with glazed sash, and 
on mild days in winter, which we do 
occasionally get, give ventilation. Be 
sure in March to give air on sunny 
days or your pansies will draw up and 
be useless. In fact on mild sunny days 
it is better to remove the sash, and as 
soon as frost is out of the ground re- 
move the sash entirely. 

The frosts of winter have usually 
heaved the plants out some so the first 
job in spring is to go over the beds 
and press them back. These plants 
will be large and give fine, perfect 
flowers, and you will get at least 50 
cents a dozen for them and should get 
more. When Mr. Pumpkin brings in 
his wagonloads and sells at 25 cents a 
dozen, and every grocer handles them, 
you are out of it. 

If you have forgotten to sow in the 
fall you can make a sowing in the 
greenhouse in flats in January or Feb- 
ruary, and by pricking out in other 
flats and giving them the coolest, light- 
est bench you have, and putting the 
flats into a cold-frame early in April, 



178 

you will have plants to sell that for 
continuous summer blooming. It cared 
for. will be more satisfactory than 
either your own cold-frame or the 
farmer's field grown plants. 

Pansy flowers are a favorite with 
many in the winter months. In some 
floral designs the blues and purples or 
white and yellow look very rich, and 
when grown for cut flowers you should 
sow in distinct varieties. For this pur- 
pose sow early in August and then se- 
lect the strongest, healthiest seedlings 
and plant on the bench in September, 
giving them all the sun and air you 
can. They are often disappointing in 
not flowering. They must have a light 
house and need every ray of sun you 
can get between snow storms. Anxious 
as they are to flower when March 
comes, they don't want to send up their 
buds in the dead of winter. 

About 4.5 degrees at night will do. 
and 60 degrees in day time it the 
weather is bright, if cloudy, less, but 
unless you can give them a light house 
don't try it. The greenfly troubles 
them in winter, so smoke. Out of 
doors nothing troubles except the hot 
weather. 

In Europe where they g've the pansy 
great attention and select the finest 
flowers and name them Captain Drey- 
fus. Paul Kruger, Aguinaldo or Wm. J. 
Bryan, etc., they perpetuate these fine 
varieties by cuttings, which root easily 
from side shoots in a shaded cold- 
frame in September. Here I have 
never heard of that being done. We 
depend entirely on seedlings and they 
are certainly as we often say in the 
vernacular, "good enough." 

For large quantities the seed can be 
sown broadcast on a finely raked sur- 
face and the seed just covered and 
pressed slightly firm. With expensive 
seed in small quantities I prefer to 
sow in shallow drills two inches apart 
and scatter the seed thinly in the 
drills and then just cover. You can 
quickly make the drill by having a 
rod an inch square and pressing one 
anerle of it into the ground. 

The pansy is a cold blooded little 
plant of the northern temperate zone, 
and it likes water. And above all, to 
nroduce fine flowers and a good plant 
it takes an abundance of manure. A 
p-ood frinble loam is the thing, with 
the addition of a third of decayed cow 
manure, or if that is not to be had, 
plenty of old hotbed manure will do. 
If you try to grow them all summer 
don't be sprinkling every night but 
give them a soaking twice a week and 
be sure and pick off all withered 
flowers. It is not the flower that ex- 




Roemer's Giant Five 
Spotted Pansy. ;» na- 
tural size. 



ROEMER'S SUPERB 
PRIZE PANSIES, 

The finest strain of 
Pansifs in the world. 
Intrnducer and Grower of 
All the Leading Novelties. 

Hitrhest award Tntemational 

Exhibition, Haniburg;, i8q7. 

Catalogue free'oniapplicalion 

'FRED. ROEMER. 

5eed Grower, 

Qiiedllnburg, Germany." 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 

hausts the plant, it is the function of 
bearing seed. 

There have been innumerable strains 
of pansies, and no two people fancy 
the same flower. A first class mixture 
suits the florist best, but be sure you 
get plenty of yellow and purple; they 
are always fancied, and a large flower 
will always be preferred. One of the 
best strains I ever grew came from Mr. 
James Fleming more than 2.5 years 
ago, when the firm was Peter Hender- 
son and James Fleming. On inquiry 
I found that Mr. Fleming had been 
hunting over the markets of New 
York, selecting a fine flower here and 
there wherever he saw one, and had 
in that way obtained a fine strain, and 
that yon can do yourself. The best of 
everything is either nature's or man's 
selection. 

The Giant Trimardeau is a large, 
finely marked pansy, but not of great 
substance. Butterfly pansies are 
beautifully marked. Other well known 
strains are the Odier, very rich in col- 
or; Bugnot's Parisian strain, Belgian, 
German and English strains. Several 
of our own florists have selected the 
finest flowers from these and have now 
a strain that I prefer to any of them. 

PELARGONIUM. 

All the familiar plants we know as 
geraniums are pelargoniums, but they 
have been treated under the name by 
which they are so well known. Under 
Pelargonium we include only the show 
and fancy section, which is strangely 
so often called Lady or Martha Wash- 
ington. Possibly one of these pretty 
plants suffered with the cherry tree 
by that famous little hatchet. 

In Europe the Show Pelargonium 
has long been a standard decorative 
plant, and considering the ease and 
short time it requires to grow, and 
their rich, handsome effect, they de- 
serve all the popularity that is theirs. 
Magnificent plants for exhibition, pur- 
poses were grown by several of the 
English firms, chief among which was 
the firm of Charles Turner, of Slough. 
Plants six or seven feet aci-oss, not 
over three feet high, and as perfect in 
outline as a well grown azalea, are a 
gorgeous sight and are surpassed in 
showy effectiveness only by an azalea. 
Millions are grown in 5 and 6-inch 
pots for the European markets and 
some are grown for our own, but not 
in such quantities. 

Great as their beauty is, they have 
these defects or shortcomings com- 
pared to the semi-double geraniums. 
Th? pelargoniums are much more 
troubled with aphis: in damp weather 
in spring without fire heat they drop 
their petals, and their season of fiow- 
ering is not continuous. Two, or at 
most three, months of spring and 
early summer is their period of flower- 
ing; after that the plant makes a 
strong growth without flower. 

As a bedding or vase plant they are 
useless and to use them for such a 
purpose is a fraud on your customers. 
With all their lack of the ever-bloom- 



ing qualities of the zonal geraniums, 
they are far superior as a decorative 
flowering plant and they are frequent- 
ly seen in the windows of the dwelling 
house, growing and flowering as it 
they had found the very spot that 
suited them, and if not too warm the 
perfectly dry air of a living room is, I 
believe, most congenial to them. 

Propagation. 
End of August or early September 
is the best time for this -country. The 
cuttings should be from plants that 
flowered the previous spring, and if 
the plants had been kept the previous 
two weeks rather dry so much the 
better. When you cut the plant down 
for cuttings don't be afraid; cut it 
down to within three inches of the pot. 
Don't look for eyes, as you would on 
a zonal; there will be any number of 
eyes break from the stems that you 
saw no signs of. Any part of the 
wood will root; the young, tender tops 
or the firmer parts. Make the cut- 
tings with two eyes, one above and 
one below the sand. They will root 
in soil readily, as we do our gera- 
niums, but I prefer to put them in 
sand, either in the bed or in flats. 
Keep only moderately moist, and after 
the first few days very little or no 
shade is needed. 

In five or six weeks they will be 
ready to put into 2y2-inch pots and 
should be grown on in a very light, 
airy house. From the time they start 
to grow in the small pots they should 
be encouraged by a light, warm, but 
well ventilated house, to grow as fast 
as possible. They will soon take a 
4-inch, previous to which Uvey should 
have liad their top pinched out. This 
pinching, or stopping, after they have 
made about three or four eyes of 
growth above the cutting is enough. 
If a larger plant is wanted they can 
be pinched again in January or Feb- 
ruary, but they will be later in flower. 
I shall pause here to say that this 
fall treatment is the most important. 
We leave our zonal geraniums in 2- 
inch pots till after New Year's, and 
if they get hard and somewhat stunt- 
ed no matter, but the show pelargo- 
niums want the opposite treatment; 
grow them on as fast as you can with- 
out forcing in a moist heat. 

I do not like to advocate anything 
so antiquated as a shelf, but neverthe- 
less it is a fact that pelargoniums will 
make a better, stouter, more thrifty 
growth during winter on a shelf near 
the glass than on any bench I have 
ever seen them grown on. By Janu- 
ary they will be stout plants with sev- 
eral side shoots, and before the end 
of the month should be shifted into 
their flowering pot, a 5 or 6-inch; no 
more is needed. During spring they 
will grow very fast. 

In watering they are like the gera- 
niums; during dark, cloudy, cold 
weather they need very little water, 
but in the bright and warmer days of 
spring they will take plenty. Avoid 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



179 



wetting the leaves if the weather is 
damp and cool. 

The soil should be a good coarse, 
turfy loam, with a fourth or fifth of 
decayed manure, and when they are 
in 5 or 6-inch pots, or larger, give 
them a crock and piece of moss tor 
drainage, as they never want a wet, 
soggy soil. From a 4-inch to their 
flowering pot tiiey should be always 
potted quite firmly; this is a matter 
of great importance. 

Pelargoniums will thrive in a very 
cool house during winter. I would 



quite small, say in three weeljs from 
time you cut them down, shake off all 
the soil, shorten back the long roots, 
and repot in a size smaller pot than 
they were growing in, and start grow- 
ing with the same treatment as you 
give the young plants. These old 
plants need not be stopped or pinched 
at all, and if kept growing in a light, 
warm house, can be had in flower by 
April 1st. They can be used as one 
of our Easter plants, although there 
are many other plants that are pre- 
ferred. 




Peperomta Saundefsii (P. arifolia argyreia). 



say that from middle of November to 
first of March 45 degrees at night was 
just what suited them, and 50 degrees 
at night by flre heat is enough at any 
time. The principal thing to avoid 
Is dampness, and in May, when in 
bloom, if we get a cold, wet spell, es- 
pecially if there is a shade on the 
house, you must drive out the damp- 
ness by fire heat or you will lose the 
blooms. 

There is nothing troubles them but 
aphis, but unlike the common gera- 
niums they are much troubled with it 
and must be constantly and regularly 
fumigated. Tobacco does not hurt 
them in the least, so there is no ex- 
cuse for their being injured by green 
fly. 

The old plants that were cut down 
in August or September should be 
kept in the full light but quite dry 
for two or three weeks; by that time 
they will have made a great many 
small shoots or breaks from the 
ripened wood. When the growth is 



Pelargoniums can bs rooted during 
winter most easily, but except where 
you are short of some variety there is 
no need of it, as you get plenty of 
stock when cutting down the plants in 
August. 

There has been a great improvement 
in the pelargonium the past thirty 
years, and what is known as the Regal 
type, almost a semi-double with 
fringed petals, is very handsome, but 
not so easily grown and flowered as 
the older type. 

It is diflicult to find a list of varie- 
ties published in any of our florists' 
catalogues, showing that these plants 
have been supplanted in popular favor 
by many less worthy of a fine name 
and long description; and it is the 
great beauty and grand qualities of 
the zonal geraniums that have done 
this. 

Of the Show flowers we recall: 
Crimson King, an early red; Gen. 
Taylor, same color, but brighter and 
an improvement; Desdemona, an 



early free flowering white; Lord Clyde, 
scarlet, with maroon blotch; Retreat, 
rose, white center. 

Of the semi-double flowers some of 
the best known are: Capt. Raikes, 
bright crimson; Dr. Masters, dark ma- 
roon; Maid of Kent, white, spotted 
rose; Queen Victoria, orange carmine, 
white edges; Madame Thibaut, white 
ground, richly marbled with rose, a 
very free and beautiful variety; Mrs. 
Sandiford is identical in habit, but a 
fine semi-double white. 

The fancy pelargoniums have small- 
er leaves and smaller flowers, but 
borne in the greatest profusion. The 
plant has a neat, compact habit, and 
we have found them to be a grand 
window plant. They want a little 
higher temperature than the Show 
section. The best time to propagate 
them is in January or February from 
the young growths, when they root 
most easily and will make small flow- 
ering plants the same summer. They 
want less drying off when cutting 
back in August, and don't cut them as 
severely as the larger growing kinds. 
The Fancy section has a longer period 
of flowering. They are a most desir- 
able plant and there is of late a re- 
turning taste for them. 

There are innumerable varieties, 
but I am not acquainted with the 
newer ones except the grand variety 
Bridesmaid, which with many is called 
the Pansy Geranium; upper petals lav- 
ender, lower white. It is a most beau- 
tiful plant and we frequently see them 
in the windows of the village home 
flowering for months. Any of the 
Fancy flowers are fine and the few 
varieties of the other sections men- 
tioned are merely what I remember; 
there are hundreds of varieties. 

As a bedding plant the pelargonium 
is of no use, but as a market plant, to 
be sold to those whose gardening is 
confined to the window, it must again 
come into popular favor. 

PEPEROMIA. 

This is a very large genus contain- 
ing hundreds of species. Those best 
known and most useful to the florist 
are P. maculosa, P. marmorata, P. 
pubifolia and P. Saundersii (often 
known as P. arifolia argyreia). They 
are from tropical South America, 
which stamps them as plants that like 
heat, but they endure a greenhouse 
temperature for weeks without any ap- 
parent harm. A pan of these beautiful 
little plants is very attractive and their 
fleshy, succulent leaves enable them to 
withstand the dry air of a living room 
better than the vast majority of our 
plants. 

They need shade in the summer but 
none in the winter and should never 
be kept too wet. A lumpy loose soil 
with a mixture of broken charcoal, or 
even broken crocks, will suit them 
well, and a pan three or four inches 
deep is better for them than a deep 
pot. The best specimen of P. maculosa 
I ever saw was growing on a rock- 



180 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



■work at the side of the path in a palm 
house where it received plenty of 
moisture but no superfluous water at 
the roots. 

They are easily propagated in sand 
or sandy soil in a bottom heat of 75 
degrees, either by the leaf, as you do 
Begonia Rex, or with an inch or so of 
the stem attached. Early spring is 
the best time to propagate. 

The flowers of all are inconspicuous; 
it is the ornamental leaves that make 
the plant valuable. P. pubifolia is 
well adapted for a hanging basket. P. 
maculosa makes a fine subject for a 
pan, and the beautiful species illus- 
trated herewith makes a compact plant 
of great beauty. All the species that 
are desirable for the commercial florist 
can be said to be of easy culture. 

PERILLA NANKINENSIS. 

This strong growing foliage plant is 
useful for sub-tropical flower garden- 
ing. It has very dark bronzy leaves 
and will grow fast in a lower tempera- 
ture than the coleus, which makes it 
useful in cooler summers than ours. 

It is raised easily from seed sown in 
March and grown on in 3-inch pots till 
bedding out time. Like our free grow- 
ing coleus it should be pinched to 
make it spread. 

PETUNIA. 

These are very popular plants. In 
flower gardening they are one of the 
leading flowers. It appears that the 
garden varieties are raised from the 
species P. nyctaginiflora and P. viola- 
cea, a white and a violet species, but 
in the varieties now raised by selec- 
tion and culture we have a great vari- 
ety of color, both double and single 
flowers. 

In large beds where there is much 
flower gardening to do and not a great 
facility for raising the plants, or where 
expense has to be studied, the petunia 
is one of our most serviceable plants, 
and for a flower bed the single is more 
eft'ective than the double. We also 
find great use for them in veranda 
boxes and vases. We have seen the 
double white used as a cut flower, but 
that day is past. 

Any fine double varieties that you 
wish to perpetuate must be raised 
from cuttings, and the plants seen in 
early spring in 4-inch pots are from 
cuttings, but for bedding it pays much 
better to raise them from si?ed. Ob- 
tain the best strain you possibly can. 
I have received seeds from a flrm that 
were splendid, hardly two flowers iden- 
tical in a thousand plants, and the 
next year from the same source they 
were nearly all that washed out purple 
that nobody wants. 

Buy seed that is sold for double al- 
ways. You will only get about 40 per 
cent, double flowei-s, and that will 
leave you plenty of single. There are 
some distinct strains that come true 
in form and color. Peter Henderson 
Co. advertise a strain called "Adonis," 
valuable for bedding, medium sized 



flowers of a carmine color. The Cali- 
fornia strain of doubles is magnifi- 
cent. The "Dwarf Inimitable" is also 
a fine single strain, of a cherry red 
color, with white throat. There are 
also many fine double varieties that 
are named, but the great majority of 
us depend on a good strain of seed, as 
they make a better bedding plant 
than those grown from cuttings, and 
every desirable color can be olitained. 
For most places a variety of color 
in the same bed is preferred when filled 
with petunias, and they should always 
be given a bed to themselves, as they 
would give no other plants a fair show. 
When choice double varieties are 
kept over you should select the young, 
fresh growths and propagate in sand 
before a hard frost has touched them. 
When rooted they should be grown on 
a light bench in a temperature of 50 
degrees. If not allowed to get stunted 
these plants will give you more cut- 
tings, which root very easily in winter 
when there is heat in the propagating 
bench. By pinching once and potting 
into a 4-inch you can have nice plants 
in flower in early May. They need a 
small stake to support them. Many 
such plants are sold in our markets. 

Seedlings are the cheapest and most 
satisfactory. The seed of the petunia 
is very small. Sow in early March on 
a well watered fine surface, and no cov- 
ering of soil is needed. Just press the 
surface lightly with the bottom of a 
clean pot. We usually cover the seed 
pan or flat with a piece of damp cheese 
cloth till the seed begins to germinate, 
but it should be removed directly you 
see the seed starting. For a few day.s 
be careful not to let the minute seed- 
lings get parched. Neither must you 
let them draw up with too much shade 
and heat. 

As soon as the small seed leaves are 
developed they should be near the 
light, and ,45 to 50 degrees at night will 
do very well. When large enough to 
handle we put six or seven around the 
edge of a 3-inch pot and two or three 
in the center. I like this better than 
putting them in flats. About end of 
April we give each plant a 2i/4-inch pot 
and place on any light bench. There 
should be a full exposure tO' the sun 
and abundance of ventilation. They 
are often put into hotbeds, Init I don't 
approve of that, as they make too rank 
a growth. In a cool, light house they 
grow fast enough and make strong, 
stout plants in fine condition for bed- 
ding out. 

Aphis troubles petunias, so they 
should be fumigated with the many 
other plants that need it. 

A good sifted loam with a third of 
old hotbed manure is what they like, 
and if you wish them to jump along 
quickly in May add a 6-inch pot of 
bone meal to every barrow load of soil. 
Although the parents of our petunias 
are from southern Brazil and the Ar- 
gentine, it must be the high eleva- 
tions, for th«y want a high tempera- 
ture at no time and grow and flower 



weeks after many of our bedding 
plants are killed. 

PHLOX DRUMMONDII. 

This is one of the very best of our 
summer annuals. There are now mag- 
nificent strains of distinct colors, and 
where large masses of brilliant color 
are desired there are few plants equal 
to this dwarf phlox. In very di-y sum- 
mers they go out of fiower, so they 
should be within reach of the hose; 
and the dead flower heads should be 
picked oft. 

For culture see Aster. In making a 
flower bed put the plants flve or six 
inches apart as soon as frosts are gone. 

PHLOX (HERBACEOUS). 

These have been included under 
herbaceous plants, but they are worthy 
of special mention, for tlrey are among 
the best of our hardy border plants. 
These flne varieties are obtained from 
several species: P. suffruticosa, P. 
maculata and P. paniculata. They are 
not of great value as a cut flower, but 
you will never make a mistake in I'ec- 
ommending them wherever a hardy 
border flower is wanted. New varie- 
ties are of course raised from seed. 

The young shoots root freely in May, 
or as soon as you can get them after 
the plants start to grow, and can be 
grown in pots and planted out in Sep- 
tember. They also divide with the 
greatest ease, either before they start 
to grow in spring, or in October and 
November. No plant is hardier. There 
are so many flne varieties that there is 
no excuse for growing poor ones. 

PINKS. 

We are often asked for the hardy 
garden pinks and are often unable to 
supply them. There is now a great vari- 
ety of almost all shades of color, and 
their flowers are as large as our carna- 
tions were twenty years ago. They 
may not be all quite hardy, but our 
carnation is almost hardy, and these 
pinks with their spreading, free flower- 
ing habit, deserve more attention and 
more care than they get. 

There are dozens of named varieties, 
Imt without going into them, we can 
grow a good assortment of colors and 
the hardy clove pink is a favorite with 
all. Her Majesty is a splendid white, 
and Abbottsford is an equally flne 
pink. 

With our continuous blooming car- 
nation they would not be of value to 
force, but are most useful to pick in 
the summer months. They can be 
propagated from cuttings, as you do 
carnations, and either kept in the flats 
in which they were rooted or potted 
off into 2-inch pots, but they must, 
when rooted, be kept in a very cool 
house or cold-frame during winter. 
Carnations root readily in sand in Oc- 
tober, and so will the young growths 
of these pinks. Planted out in early 
spring they soon make bushy clumps. 
Our garden pinks are supposed to be 
the offspring of Dianthus plumarius. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



181 



POINSETTIA. 

The showy Poinsettia pulcherrima 
is now botanically classed with the 
euphorbias, but is still far better 
known to the trade as poinsettia. It 
is a native of Mexico and that infers 
that at no time should it be subject to 
a low temperature. Since its introduc- 
tion it has been a favorite in all col- 
lections of hot house niants, its bril- 
liant scarlet bracts making it un- 
equaled as a decorrative plant in the 
very darkest days of winter. Of late 
years it has grown greatly in popular 
favor with our flower-buying patrons 
and as the lily is now known as the 
Easter flower, the poinsettia may and 
is known as the Christmas flower. 

They are often used for decorations 
when cut with two or three feet of 
stem, but are more satisfactory in 
every way when it is possible to use 
them in pots. Although their fine 
leaves soon drop in a dry room, the 
showy bracts remain on for several 
weeks, always giving the purchaser 
good value, and as it is one of those 
plants which we never get returned 
"to keep for another season" it is 
satisfactory and profitable to grow, 
more so than the majority of plants 
we handle. 

Old plants that have rested from 
January to April or May should be 
shaken out clean of any old soil, pot- 
ted into 4, 5 or 6-inch pots as their 
size may require, the shoot or shoots 
shortened back only to the sound 
wood. Place in a warm, light house 
and syringe daily. In four or five 
weeks there will be a crop of cuttings. 
In taking off the cuttings leave one 
young eye at the old stem so that an- 
other break will give you another lot 
of cuttings. As most of your cuttings 
will go into the sand after you have 
discontinued firing, there will be no 
bottom heat; so the cuttings want 
shade and the sand must have a thor- 
ough soaking twice a day in warm 
weather. In about three weeks the 
cuttings will be rooted. Lift carefully 
from the sand and pot into 2% or 3- 
inch pots. For the first few days, or 
till the young plants begin to make 
roots in the soil, keep shaded and 
moist by frequent syringing. When 
once they have got hold of the soil 
they -want the fullest light, and in the 
warm months the greatest possible 
amount of fresh air. 

The old plants that you are propa- 
gating from can after June 1st be 
plunged outside, and cuttings taken 
from outside growth make better 
plants than those grown inside. You 
can propagate at intervals till the mid- 
dle of August, the last struck making 
fine dwarf plants. We seldom make 
use of the old plants, but shifted on in 
September and given plenty of heat 
and light they will give you a number 
of medium sized flowers. 

The main object in the cultivation of 
the poinsettia is to obtain a stocky, 
sturdy plant, retaining all its fine foli- 
age, as dwarf as possible, but crowned 



with a fine head of what the public call 
the bloom. Two shifts are enough; 
from the 2i/^ to a 4-inch, and from that 
to their flowering pot, a 6-inch or in 
later struck plants a 5-inch. Batches of 
cuttings can be taken off at intervals 
from May 1 to end of August, the very 
latest propagation often making most 
useful little plants. 

The poinsettia is very unsightly 
without its large handsome leaves, and 
these are too often seen drooping and 
yellow or entirely absent at Christmas 
time just when the plant should be at 
its best. There are three causes for 
this: First, a low temperature (60 de- 
grees at night is the lowest they 
should ever be); second, starvation at 
the roots, either through an impover- 
ished soil or insufficient root room, 
and thirdly, as common a cause as 
any, their roots being disturbed after 
they begin to form their bracts. A 
very important point to remember is 
that they should have their last shift 
never later than the middle of Octo- 
ber and two weeks earlier is better. 
They cannot endure having their 
roots disturbed in the least when near 
their flowering period. 

The best soil for them is two-thirds 
of rather heavy turfy loam, with one- 
third of well rotted cow manure, and 
at the last shift add one pint of bone 
flour to one bushel of compost. They 
are very liable to be troubled with 
mealy bug. which infests their flower 
umbel proper, but if syringed daily as 
they should be they are easily kept 
down. Greenfly also attacks them if 
regular fumigation is neglected. 

If very large bracts on 5 to 6-foot 
stems are desired, you can plant out in 
6 inches of rich soil some thrifty 
young plants in August. In this way 
you can get bracts 20 to 24 inches 
across. 

Plants unsold, or those you cut for 
the flower, should be stored away in 
January either in a warm shed or be- 
neath a bench where not a drop of 
water will touch them, and allowed to 
rest perfectly dry till started again the 
following May. 

There is a so-called white variety 
seen occasionally which is certainly 
not worth growing, and there is a va- 
riety called P. p. plenissima, or com- 
monly called the double. It is with 
me about ten days later than the type, 
but it is very intense in color, stands 
travel and handling better and al- 
though not making such a wide stretch 
of bracts is most desirable in every 
way. 

POTTING. 

There is no chapter in this book that 
I have started into with such a relish 
as this one. It is a treat. It is better 
than falling off a log. It is an ice- 
cream soda and a 15-cent cigar. It is 
more than equal to seeing the High- 
land fling danced for the three thou- 
sand eight hundred and flfty-sixth 
time. 

There is a good display of egotism 
in it, because the writer thinks he 



knows how to pot, and he has seen a 
great many that did not and never 
seem to learn. Some will say: "There 
is a man who thinks nobody can do a 
thing right but himself." I beg your 
pardon; that is not so, for I "have 
seen many young men who began to 
pot and shift plants when they were 
1.5 years old and made experts at it, 
but when over 20 they seldom learn 
to perform this important operation 
properly, which must combine both 
speed and proficiency. 

Our business is both mental and me- 
chanical, and a good mingling of the 
two. It is the mental that S3es at a 
glance that a plant needs shifting and 
the size shift or pot it wants. It is the 
mechanical that expertly shifts the 
plant from the 3 to the 4-inch, because 
he has learned it, and it is not the 
slightest effort of the brain to do it 
right. It would be an effort to do it 
any other way.. 

It must be admitted that potting and 
shifting is the most important mechan- 
ical operation in our commercial 
houses, and any young man who is 
really a quick and good hand at it can 
always get a job, but how few there 
are when you want them. A Jaggs or 
a Baggs or a Raggs, if known to be an 
expert at this operation, would often 
get a favorable answer to his question, 
"Have ye got a job, sir?" instead of an 
evasive answer, even if he were known 
to have laudable loving for exploring 
all horticultural centers. We must put 
up with a slow gait sometimes, but I 
have suffered more than once by right 
down bad and careless potting; care- 
lessness is not the word, it is right 
down stupidness, thick-headedness, 
with awkward handedness. 

It is no good telling you how not to 
do it, but still I can convey some 
points by describing what I have often 
seen in the shape of potting, which 
causes itching of the skin and the 
mastication of a large lump of profan- 
ity that has to be swallowed instead 
of coloring the atmosphere. 

You will see a man take hold of a 
cutting between his finger and thumb 
by the top of the shoot, and suspend 
it in the little pot, then fill up the pot 
heaping full and then begin to thumb 
all around on the surface. Then the 
same man or his class will take a 
plant that has come out of a 3-inch and 
after putting half an inch of soil in 
the bottom of a 4-inch, set the plant 
in with the old ball one inch down the 
new pot, then a big handful of soil is 
thrown on the top and the thumbing 
commences again with several revolu- 
tions of the pot and a few extra pres- 
sures of the thumb. 

If you will knock out the 2-inch first 
described you will find that near the 
bottom, where the soil should be com- 
pact around the roots, it is loose, but 
firm on the surface, where you don't 
want it so. And if you will knock out 
the 4-inch you will find the first inch 
quite solid, but lower down where the 
roots are you will find spaces between 



182 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



the old ball and the pot, which I have 
learned to call, when exhibiting them 
to a workman, "mouse's nests," for I 
have found the cavities large enough 
to domicile a little rodent. 

When potting see that your soil is 
in just the right consistency. It should 
never be too dry. and to be wet and 
sticky would be ruination. Som« one, 
perhaps Mr. Henderson, described it 
admirably when he said it should be 
in such condition that you could 
squeeze up a handful and it would ad- 
here in a lump, but when thrown on 
the bench it would crumble to pieces. 
That is just about the same condition 
so dear to the eye and heart of a farm- 
er when plowing his clay loam in the 
spring, when it falls back from the 
plowshare in flaky particles. 

In the old country, so called (this 
is the oldest, geologically, by some odd 
billions of years) we were taught to 
sprinkle the new pots before using 
them, and although it is disregarded 
in our hurry, it is, I am sure, an ex- 
cellent plan to dip all new pots a mo- 
ment or two. We are also taught in 
Europe to wash all pots before being 
used again. This is a good thing to do 
when you have the time, but we never 
seem to have the time, so we put them 
out of doors in summer when out of 
use. If you have a field and can 
spread them out the rains will do much 
to wash the outsides, but if the cows 
walk over them or children play ball 
with them it is somewhat expensive. 
Piled up in neat rows with somie 
boards for a foundation does us very 
well, for then they get thoroughly dry, 
and when wanted for use a coarse wad 
of cloth will give them what Nicholas 
Nickleby had to put up with the morn- 
ing after his arrival at Dotheboy's 
Hall, "a dry rub." This dry rub will 
clean them inside near enough for most 
all of our common plants. 

The very worst place for storing 
pots is under a wet bench, where they 
get so saturated that they must be in 
poor condition, for although the water 
we give our plants does not all go out 
through the porous pots, as somelx)dy 
said it did, yet it is well to have as 
much of the porous quality as we can 
get. There is considerable humbug 
about" porous pots, however, and we 
do not attach much importance to it 
because we see plants thriving in a 
grean painted pine tub, which is no 
more porous than our neighbors' pie 
crust. 

It is a great benefit to have our flower 
pots and pans all of one standard 
make, and, better still, to have one 
maker's make. The breakage of pots 
in the old days of hand made pots was 
terrific, and we should squeal awfully 
had we the same amount to lay out for 
good potting soil. 

It is difficult to attempt to give any 
instructions on how to pot or shift a 
plant, but a few hints will suffice. 

To begin with a rooted cutting. If 
the roots are small the pot can be 
filled to overflowing with soil and one 



dab of the forefinger makes a hole big 
enough to put in the plant; or if the 
roots are too long for that, hold the 
plant with the two first fingers and 
thumb and fill up with one handful of 
soil, then with the thumb and first 
finger of the left hand and first finger 
of the right hand run into the soil per- 
pendicularly on three sides of the 
plant, you have well firmed the soil 
around the roots, where it ought to be 
firm, and as you pass the plant into a 
flat a rap will settle the soil and the 
first watering will do yie rest. 

You ought to learn to seize the plant 
with one hand and the pot with' the 
other. A good hand at this light job 
with cuttings that are easy to handle, 
and has his pots and plants brought to 
him and carried away, ought to pot 
easily 500 an hour. 

When it comes to shifting a 2-inch 
to a 3-inch, or a 3-inch to a 4-inch, 
you should hold the plant by the stem, 
letting your little finger rest a momient 
on the edge of the pot. fill the pot 
nearly a third full, and then lean the 
plant towards you and put in some 
soil, give the pot jusu one half turn 
and lean the plant again towards you 
and fill up the other side, and then 
squeeze the ball hard down; another 
rap. and the shift is done. Now. by 
this method you have gotten the soil 
solid all around the ball, firmer near 
the bottom, becausi= you wedged the 
plant into the soil. 

Up to 6-inch pots this method will 
do, with perhaps the addition of get- 
ting your fingers down the sides as a 
rammer. With all shifts of plants over 
6-inch, especially with those that get 
a small shift, say 6 to 8 or 10 to 12, 
.vou cannot get the soil, which in these 
sizes should never be sifted, down 
compact without the aid of a stick an 
inch or two wide and one-half or three- 
quarters inch thick. All hard-wooded 
plants, like azaleas, want to be firmly 
potted; and some of our soft- wooded 
plants, geraniums for instance, want 
hard potting. As a rule, plants are 
potted too loosely. 

It would be a dirty job to b3 shift- 
ing plants within a few minutes of 
their being watered, but it would be 
tar worse for the plant to shift it when 
it was quite dry, or in that condition 
that it needed watering, and the larger 
the plant the worse it would be, be- 
cause the water would largely pass 
down through the new soil and the old 
ball would remain dry till the plant 
was thoroughly soaked, which all 
plants won't stand. 

We are able to shift a plant from a 
4 to a 6-inch or 6 to 8 with absolute 
safety at any time, because wh?n prop- 
erly done the plant does not lose a 
fiber, but many of our soft-wooded 
plants soon recover from a little dis- 
turbance of the roots and with many 
of our common plants you can always 
rub off half an inch of the surface of 
the old ball, which enables you to give 
them more new soil. 

Many of the soft-wooded plants that 



make a stem, such as geraniums, fuch- 
sias, heliotrope, etc., do not hurt any 
if the old ball is down an inch under 
the new soil, but in hard-wooded 
plants they should be kept very near 
the same height. This is particular in 
palms; they should never be pot- 
ted below the base of the stems. Many 
palms will raise themselves several 
inches above the ground b.v the roots. 
Lower them down when shifting, but 
not below bottom of stem. 

The best work of potting I ever kept 
the watch on was done by an expert at 
any greenhouse work. It was very 
common stuff; Centaurea gymnocarpa 
from 2-inch to 3-inch. He did not have 
to knock out his plants, but merely 
shifted them and did it well, and in 
just twenty-five minutes he had rattled 
off 500. That was too fast to last all 
day, but It was not day, it was night, 
by lamp light. For the first week or 
two after Easter we frequently have 
to put in some "bees," and during sev- 
eral evenings last spring, two men in 
three hours, with plenty of help, shift- 
ed 2,500 geraniums from 3 to 4-inch. 

I have spoken of rapid potting, which 
most of our bedding plants must get 
or it would not pay, but the man who 
can pot well and fast can also slacken 
down his speed and pot carefully when 
occasion requires, and where care is 
needed it pays. He could not handle 
cyclamen or cinerarias, or above all 
herbaceous calceolarias as he could a 
geranium or a canna. or you would 
break and smash the leaves, but ex- 
pertness and smartness will apply to 
all of them. 

I have seen some men take hold of a 
dormant cattleya and hold it up and 
look at it and twist it around as if it 
were a new and unknown reptilian fos- 
sil, and then fuss with moss and crocks 
as long as it would take to visit the 
dentist and have a tooth out, and then 
from want of knowledge the poor 
plant pined and died; while I know 
another who fixes them up as fast as I 
would shift a cytisns, and this man 
makes them grow. 

Don't think for a minute, young 
man, that you are an expert potter of 
plants unless a superior expert told 
you so and watched you. I have no- 
ticed some young men in very large 
establishments who were poor hands 
at potting because perhaps they never 
had a good lesson, or perhaps they 
were of that conceited build that they 
would not learn. I noticed in one place 
where a rapid potter had been at 
work on a lot of rose cuttings that 
were calloused but had lost their 
leaves, and quite a number were up- 
side down. Perhaps some will say 
that in our common plants in spring- 
time anything will do. It may do, but 
in the aggregate the difference in the 
result between the right and the wrong 
way will be considerable. 

Just a word about a potting bench. 
It should always be of 2-inch plank, 
resting on cross-pieces not over two 
feet apart, so that it is solid, with no 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



183 




Pyrimidal Flowering Chinese Primulas. 



spring to it. And it sliould be higli 
enough so that a man can work his 
hands conveniently without bending 
his back. It is the bending over that 
tires. You can't raise a low bench up 
to suit a tall workman, but you can 
raise the short workman up to suit 
the bench. 

PRIMULA. 

A very large genus of pretty dwarf 
stemless plants that are all from tem- 
perate climates or high elevations. 
Those of us who crossed the Atlantic 
will remember the fields and banks 
and hedge rows where the primrose 
covered the ground. The cowslip (P. 
officinalis) was not so common and 
was generally found in a colony in a 
pasture and the oslip (P. elatior) was 
still less common. 

Many primroses are hardy with us, 
but our severe winter, and often hot, 
dry summer, is not nearly so favorable 
to them as the more temperate parts 
of Europe. The polyanthus, similar to 
the cowslip except in color, is the 
leading flower in thousands of cottage 
gardens, and with it the old woman's 
story that if you plant a cowslip or 
common primrose upside down it will 
come red, double, etc. This strange 
phenomenon never occurred in the 
garden that you are visiting, but it did 
happen, because our Aunt Jane or old 
Bill Jones did it many times. 

The polyanthus is sometimes ssen 
doing very well here, and where it 
can be shaded, but not a wet soil, and 
protected in winter, it is a most charm- 
ing hardy spring flower. 

The old double white form of P. sin- 
ensis was once a most important plant 
with every florist. Its flowers were 
used in immense quantities for making 
designs, but we have gotten over that, 
and although we had no difficulty in 
cutting up the large plants with a 
sharp knife and making each section 
into a cutting which rooted slowly but 
surely, we no longer bother with that 
method of propagation. We have now 



a double white equal to the old vari- 
ety from seed and we have every 
shade, double and single, from pure 
white to crimson. The varieties of P. 
sinensis come true from seed and it is 
upon such we depend for our fall, win- 
ter and spring flowering plants, and 
they are now one of our most impor- 
tant plants. 

Besides P. sinensis we have P. ob- 
conica and P. Forbesii, the "baby 
primrose." For some years we did not 
realize the great beauty and useful- 
ness of P. obconica. It is a most 
charming and useful plant, and the 
baby primrose sells at sight. They 
are so profuse in bloom and have the 
great good quality that they are flne 



window plants, and being easily raised 
can be sold at a very moderate price. 
Other species may be found very at- 
tractive for the private collection, but 
the three mentioned are the leading 
commercial plants, and all want about 
the same treatment. 

Always obtain the best strain of 
seed. It takes time and tedious care 
to save primula seed, so don't be- 
grudge paying for a good strain. The 
foliage as well as flowers of the P. 
sinensis are handsome. We have fern- 
leaved, parsley-leaved, curl-leaved, 
and in flowers most baautiful colors 
and markings. The flowers of obcon- 
ica have been greatly improved of late 
and doubtless in both that and 
Forbesii great improvements will be 
made. 

The primulas are the least troubled 
with any of our greenhouse pests of 
any cultivated plants. The principal 
thing to remember is that they do not 
like much heat. After they have left 
the seed pan they need a good open 
soil; two parts loam, one part sifted 
cow manure, and one part leaf-mold 
will do them finely, potted only mod- 
erately firm. 

The leaves, or rather, leaf stems, 
break easily and here is where care- 
ful and skillful potting comes in. I 
frequently see people, when asked to 
"knock out those plants," take hold 
of the top of the plant as they would 
a cat's tail if they wanted to draw 
pussy from her retreat. Get the base 
of the plant in the fork between your 
fingere, and you can protect every leaf. 
I noticed .some years ago that the Eng- 
lish florist had small sticks pushed 
down on three sides of the stem of the 




Primula Obconica. 



184 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



primula just after shifting.to keep them 
from wobbling about, as they were 
potted what we would call "high." We 
never found any necessity for that, for 
they can be potted with care just right, 
sufficiently deep to hold them firmly 
upright, but not by any means to bui-y 
their crowns. This is particular; don't 
get them too low. but just so that they 
set firmly on the soil. 

If you wish to have primroses by Oc- 
tober you should sow in April, and if 
you wish to have them in spring you 
should sow again end of August. You 
can with care sow any time from 
March to September. We usually sow 
about first of May, which gives us 
flowering plants from November on to 
March, after which we think there are 



pots. I have found these little plants 
do finely on a shelf in a house that 
had a good shade. In another five or 
six weeks they will go into a 3-inch 
pot. If you don't have a cold-frame 
then give them a bench where it is 
shaded overhead, and they can get 
plenty of air. End of August or early 
September they should be shifted into 
their flowering pot. We sell most of 
them in 4-inch pots, and the great ma- 
jority go as soon as one fine truss is 
developed, but to grow a fine plant 
the.v should have a 5-inch. 

After the heat of summer is gone we 
try to keep them at about 50 degrees at 
night, but less won't hurt them in the 
least. And don't crowd them at any 
time; they must have full room for 



some large, healthy plants, but in this 
immediate neighborhood they are a 
failure. Thousands of dollars have 
been spent for their purchase and care, 
but in a few years they are gone. We 
have pulled up this spring the remains 
of rhododendrons and kalmias (and re- 
placed with hardy deciduous shrubs) 
which the confiding owner had pur- 
chased from the agent, who showed 
him the gorgeous picture of a rhodo- 
dendron warranted (till the bill was 
paid) to grow and blos.som even more 
beautifully than the colored plate. So 
be careful, and unless you are sure that 
these plants thrive in your neighbor- 
hood don't sell them. There is any 
number of good, honest hardy shrubs. 
It is said that the rhododendron, or 




many other plants, not better, but the 
people want a change, and for an 
Easter plant we do not prize them. It 
is in early winter that they are such 
favorites with everybody. 

The cold-frame is an excellent place 
to summer over the primroses. With 
the glass shaded and the sash raised 
back and front, it is cool, and if you 
will not neglect them there is no place 
in the greenhouse where they can be 
grown so well. If the frame is in the 
shade of trees so much the better. It 
is coolness you want. 

Sow on some light loam and leaf- 
mold that has been previously well 
watered. Just press in the seed and 
cover with more leaf-mold very light- 
ly; when the seed is out of sight it is 
covering enough. Place a pane of glass 
over the flat or pan and don't let the 
soil get parched. When the little 
plants are up_ keep the pan in the 
coolest place you have. 

In five or six weeks they can be pot- 
ted singly in 2-inch pots, using clean 



Specimen Greenhouse Rhododendrons. 

the spread of their pretty leaves^ or 
they are useless. They need little syr- 
inging, and none when in flower, but 
when growing during summer a fine 
sprinkling does them good. They wilt 
quickly when allowed to suffer for 
want of water and need plenty of 
water from seed pan to flowering. The 
soil should be always in that condi- 
tion that it will take plenty of water. 
If you flower them as late as March 
or April their flowers will need shad- 
ing. 

RHODODENDRON. 

Where these broad-leaved evergreen 
shrubs will flourish out of doors there 
is no hardy shrub that equals them for 
color and massive beauty. We have 
seen acres of them grooving as freely 
as a weigelia or philadelphus, and in 
many parts of Great Britain they are 
planted for game covers, but that is 
on the other side of the Atlantic. In 
the vicinity of Boston they appear to 
do well, and nearer home I have seen 



any of the Ericaceae order, will not 
thrive where the soil is impregnated 
with lime. So there cannot be lime in 
some parts of the Alleghany mountains, 
for there the kalmias cover the mount- 
ain side. R. catawbiensis is widely dis- 
tributed through our eastern states, 
and is quite hardy. There are other 
causes than the lime that make the 
rhododendron an undesirable plant for 
our northern states. It gets burnt 
with the bright suns of March when 
the leaves are frozen hard. The past 
winter has destroyed many. 

It is as a forcing plant that we are 
chiefly interested, and strange to say, 
beautiful as they are when well flow- 
ered, they do not sell readily. They 
take up much room and we have sev- 
eral times declared we would leave 
them alone, but as the drummer pays 
his annual visit we relent and say, 
"Well, we will just try a few." And it 
is only a few you want in the commer- 
cial greenhouse; and the best time to 
have them is at Easter. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



J 85 



The rhododendrons that you see 
planted by the landscape gardenerC es- 
pecially if he is from a distance) and 
those we buy to force are varieties of 
R. ponticum. They are propagated 
from seed, by cuttings of the half- 
ripened wood, and by layers and by 
grafting. The latter method is the 
usual one to increase the fine named 
varieties. The business of propagat- 
ing and growing the rhotlodendron is 
a specialty with those that have the 
suitable soil, such as the fine peat of 
Surrey, England, or the black peaty 
soil of Holland and Belgium. 

If I attempted to grow on over sum- 
mer any rhododendrons I would use 
two-thirds of turfy loam and one-third 
well rotted leaves. You could not 
however, begin to grow them a season 
as cheaply as you can purchase fins 
young plants well set with buds thai 
only need a few months' care, like our 
newly imported azaleas, with this dif- 
ference, that you must expect to sell 
or give away all your rhododendrons, 
while your unsold azal?as are, with 
proper treatment, much better plants 
the second year. 

When potting the newly imported 
plants see that the ball is not too dry. 
It is better to make sure by dipping it 
in a tub of water. Pack the soil firm- 
ly around the old ball and store them 
away in the coolest house or frame you 
have. At New Year's, bring them into 
more heat. We failed several years 
to get them into flower, thinking that 
like the azalea they would come along 
in a cool house. They won't do it: 
you must give them 60 to 65 degrees at 
night and syringe them daily; in fact 
it is heat and moisture that bring them 
out. They may not need three months 
to force them out, but it is well to be 
in time, and be sure to give the roots 
plenty of water, particularly when in 
flower. The flowers wilt easily in the 
sun if the roots are dry. 

There are countless varieties, but 
some of the handsomest do not force 
well; so in ordering see that the varie- 
ties are suitable. Desirable forcing 
varieties are now largely grown for 
that purpose. 

There are now beautiful hybrid rho- 
dodendrons, the offspring of several 
species, which make fine conservatory 
plants. They should be managed as 
we do azaleas, without the severe 
pruning. After flowering they make 
their growth and should be encouraged 
to grow by a good heat and moisture. 
When you see the buds set you can 
plunge them out of doors for the sum- 
mer and remove to- a cool house wh?n 
you do the Indian azaleas. 

RICHARDIA AFRICANA. 

This plant Is often called Arum lily, 
but with us is universally called the 
Calla lily. For many years it was a 
most important plant with us and to- 
day there are a number of people who 
prefer them to the true lilies. They 
are of the easiest growth, if you re- 
member one important thing, and that 



is that the calla comes from Northern 
Africa and does not want to be starved 
in a cool greenhouse. 

There are several ways of growing 
them. To begin with, they propagate 
easily from offsets, which you can take 
off when repotting the plants in the 
fall. Some plant them out, but if they 
have much root room they grow too 
rampant and the flowers are too large 
to be useful. 

In early May our houses are too 
crowded to keep the callas on the 
bench and they are taken outside and 
laid down where they can be covered 
in case of a sharp frost. The top with- 
ers away and for a few months the 
root is dry. In August we shake off 
all the soil and start them growing 
again in 5 or 6-inch pots, keeping them 
in a frame as long as there is no dan- 
ger of frost, and in winter give them a 
light house where it is not less than 
60 degrees at night. Although almost 
an aquatic the soil should be in such 
condition that water passes through it 
freely. For soil use three-fourths of 
coarse loam and one-fourth of decom- 
posed cow manure. They want lots of 
syringing and fumigating, for thrip 
and red spider trouble the leaves. 

If you want to raise some specimens 
that will require a 9 or 10-inch pot and 
bear three or four flowsrs at one time, 
select some of your strongest plants in 
May and plant them out two or three 
feet apart in a deep, rich soil, where 
you can water them copiously in dry 
times. They lift easily end of Septem- 
ber and will make great plants. 

The small offsets or bulblets that 
come off the corm in August can be 
potted in 2-inch pots and grown on, 
giving them a shift into a 5-inch and 
plunge out of doors, and if given plen- 
ty of water these plants will be in 
good flowering condition by October. 
Roots are now sent from California 
very cheaply. 

Richardia albo-maculata has a small, 
greenish-white flower and a prettily 
spotted leaf, which we used to use in 
our veranda boxes. It rests in winter 
and the corm should be started grow- 
ing in February. To increase your 
stock of this the corm can be cut in 
two or three pieces and started grow- 
ing in February. Keep rather dry till 
leaf growth begins. In .June plant them 
out and lift in fall and store in dry 
soil till time to start again. 

There is a magnificent yellow calla; 
of its correct name I am not certain, 
but think it is R. Elliottiana. In size 
and form it is like the common calla, 
but the leaves are spotted and not so 
thick in texture. The flower is simply 
grand. I don't know when I have seen 
a flower that pleased me so much. 
Fancy a dozen or more of these flowers 
in a vase; what can be richer? It is 
not yet common or we would see and 
hear more of it. but every florist should 
obtain a stock of it. 

A single corm was given to me two 
years ago by the late George Savage, of 
Rochester, with the advice to start it 



in sand and give little water till 
growth began. This was good advice, 
for the following .June it threw up a 
gorgeous bloom. They should be dor- 
mant in the soil during winter and 
shaken out and started in early spring. 
We divided this corm into four or five 
pieces with success, one of which flow- 
ered this spring. This is such a mag- 
nificent flower I cannot praise it too 
highly. 

RICINUS (CASTOR BEAN). 

Our warm summers suit this tropical 
plant well, and in very large beds or 
borders where a tropical effect is want- 
ed it has a flne appearance. It is easily 
raised by sowing the seeds in March, 
either singly in small pots or in a flat 
and afterwards potted off singly in 3 
or 4-inch pots. 

There are now several varieties, 
those with the bronze colored leaves 
being very handsome. To get a good 
growth of the ricinus the soil of the 
bed should be deep and rich. 

ROSES. 

Volumes have been devoted to the 
rose. It is known as the Queen of 
Flowers. Whole books have dealt 
with merely the diseases of the rose. 
A great church dignitary of England 
gives all his leisure time to telling 
funny stories and studying his favo- 
rite love, the rose. In this country 
Mr. H. B. Ellwanger, of Rochester, 
has published a volume on the rose. 
And for centuries the literature of the 
rose has been pouring out in a steady 
stream. 

The production of the plants and 
flowers has made a fortune for a few, 
a competency for hundreds and daily 
bread for thousands. There is no long- 
er a sanguinary war between the roses 
of York and Lancaster in which thou- 
sands perished and a fair i-sland was 
laid waste, but strange to say in one 
city, most famous for peace and broth- 
erly love, there still exists a Duke of 
York whose pride it is not to exter- 
minate his countryman who grows 
white roses, but to produce such grand 
red roses with stems of such a length 
as his Lordship the Earl of Lancaster 
never dreamed of. 

The rose is not only Queen to all 
those who admire a beautiful flower — 
and they are low in the animal scale 
who do not — ^but is the most impor- 
tant by far in our commercial horticul- 
ture. If we happen not to be exten- 
sive growers then 75- per cent o£ our 
bills with the commission man ia for 
roses. Although I believe the orchids 
are bound to become great favorites 
with the wealthier flower buyers, yet 
they nor any other flowers can displace 
the rose as Queen of all of Flora's 
gifts. It is the perfection and grace 
of form, the beautiful leaves, the fine 
stem and the sweetness of the flower 
that places it pre-eminently above all 
other flowers. 

In Europe the rose has been fostered 
by any number of rose societies, and 
we have a rose society here, an auxili- 



186 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



ary of our national S. A. F. So far it 
lias been a rose society only in name, 
but at Detroit it took a new lease of 
life and now bids fair to start off with 
the enthusiasm that belongs to the 
carnation society. It is sincerely wish- 
ed that It may and if so what magni- 
ficent displays may we expect at its 
annual conventions and exhibitions? 

Space forbids me to more than men- 
tion the literature of the rose. Among 
the books devoted to the rose may be 
mentioned Shirley Hibbard's "Rose 
Book for Amateurs," and "A Book 
About Roses," by Rev. Dean S. R. 
Hole. Both of these gentlemen are 
charming writers and ardent students 
of the rose. There you will find the 
history of the rose, almost from the 
dawn of our own history, as well as 
its present day beauties and associa- 
tions. A far more edifying literature 
than campaign speeches, murders, 
shipwrecks, or the latest movements 
of the popular vaudeville actresses. 

Of American authors, besides Mr. 
Ellwanger's book, we have "Parsons 
on the Rose," by S. B. Parsons, a noted 
horticulturist; and "The Secrets of 
Rose Culture," by W. J. Hatton, a 
practical florist. One more foreign 
l>ook is that by Wm. Paul, "The Rose 



could have improved on that myster- 
ious and ambiguous story of the Gar- 
den of Eden had I been the learned 
Israelite or syndicate of Israelites who 
by tradition handed down or scratched 
on tablets of stone or burnt clay the 
stories of their forefathers whose 
dreams included serpents, fig leaves, 
forbidden fruit and murder. Strange 
that these evil agencies surround us 
yet, and encompass a man most fatally 
if he steps far off the virtuous path. 
I hope I won't be considered presump- 
tuous but I would have made Miss 
Innocent Eve tempt Mr. Frank Adam 
to present her with a moss rose bud. 
The roses were growing in Asia Minor, 
but no one knows what kind of fruit 
the forbidden species was. If Eve was 
a dark-skinned damsel we would say 
it was a watermelon. The moss rose 
bud would be far more poetical and 
has a meaning, for at 15 years of age 
we learned that a moss rose bud was 
an expression of true love, or at 
least the first true, but in poor Eve's 
case it would have been a case of force. 
It was first, last and only love. No 
flirting, no jealousies nor need of 
western divorce courts, where the sign 
hangs out:- "Divorces granted while 
you wait." 




Basket of Roses. 



Garden." It is an expensive but mag- 
nificently illustrated volume, and Mr. 
Paul, as a raiser and cultivator is per- 
haps the foremost rosarian of the 
world. 

The rose has been emblematic of no 
end of things and I will conclude my 
preliminary remarks by saying that 
I have thought many times that I 



If you were to ask an American 
which was the most important class of 
roses he would probably say the Teas. 
If you asked an Englishman he would 
say undoubtedly that the so-called 
Hybrid Perpetual class was much the 
most important. The more temperate 
climate of Western Europe is very 
favorable to the rose, and in Great 



Britain the Tea and Noisette roses are 
hardy out of doors. In our Northern 
States the Hybrid Perpetuals, while 
being quite entitled to be called hardy, 
are often injured by the severe winters, 
and the Tea and Noisette sections, un- 
le.ss most thoroughly protected, are en- 
tirely unfitted for our winters. 

There is nothing that our people 
crave to have in their garden, let it be 
in the few acres of the millionaire or 
the small garden plot of the mechanic, 
so much as a rose, and in nothing is 
there so much disappointment. With 
our detached residences, both big and 
little, there is always some garden, and 
too frequently the attempt to grow 
roses in them is a failure The soil 
is often worn out and there is not fresh 
air enough. The budded stock is pur- 
chased from the tree peddler, and in a 
few years there is a strong growth of 
the Manetti stock. "But the roses don't 
flower." The rose is long since dead 
and only the suckers of the Manetti 
exist. 

I believe that where there is a good 
expanse of lawni and' the soil is fresh 
and good the best results can be ob- 
tained by planting annually young 
plants of the Tea and Hybrid Tea vari- 
eties. Years ago where now stand 
buildings we used to plant out every 
May 3 or 4-inch pot plants of the old 
Bon Silene. Safrano, Isabella Sprunt 
and Duchess de Brabant, and from 
.lune on till middle of November we 
cut thousands of handsome buds, 
which I know would more than gratify 
any of our customers. For such is 
the love for and pride to produce roses 
that occasionally we have the busy 
business man call in during fall just 
to say that he "cut one fine rose this 
morning." and he is as proud of it 
as if it was a baby arrived during the 
wee sma' hours, the unearthly time at 
which Providence has ordained these 
interesting domestic events to usually 
occur. 

This summer in an open field far re- 
moved from the refreshing influence 
of the hose and also the "madding 
(Jrowd," on a piece of good light loam. 
we have had a row of Perle des Jar- 
dins. President Carnot and La France. 
They have flowered continually and 
will till 10 degrees of frost destroys 
their tender growth. 

Before I enter on the two classes of 
roses that are the main objects of this 
article, as well as the plants of great- 
est importance to the florist. I want to 
say a word about the uses of some 
other classes that we occasionally 
have to supply. 

The rose is spread over the entire 
northern temperate regions of the 
world, not so numerous in species in 
North America as in Asia and Europe. 
In this country they are found as far 
south as Mexico. Over 20(i species of 
roses have been described, but there 
are probably 50 species well defined, 
and of varieties and hybrids of these 
many species there are thousands. The 
cultivator has done marvelous things 
witlv the rose, and some of our culti- 
vated varieties are as far removed 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



187 




View through a Range of Connected Rose Houses, with Raised Benches. 



from the original type as any devia- 
tion from nature in the vegetable 
kingdom. Yet, a few of the original 
species are in cultivation and are most 
useful plants. 

Noisette Rosfs. 

These were much ottener seen in 
our northern greenhouses thirty years 
ago. Since the introduction of the 
Ijeautiful Tea varieties little attention 
is paid to them, but in the private 
conservatory they are fine plants for 
pillars and rafters. ,They are useless 
to us outside but Avhere they do not 
get more than 15 degrees of frost they 
must be grand plantsi as they are in 
our southern states. A well known 
nurseryman, Mr. Smith, of Geneva, N. 
Y., who knows what a rose is, and 
does not talk wildly, as many tourists 
do, told me that he believed Northern 
Texas was the most favored locality 
on this continent for the rose, and 
that the Tea, Bourbon, and Noisette 
classes grew there to the greatest per- 
fection. ' 

The Noisette roses are easily propa- 
gated by cuttings from the half ripened 
wood at, any time of year, either .July 
or .lanuary. They should be always 
planted out in a well drained border, 
for you don't get their real beauty 
and worth till they are a few years 
odd. After making a strong growth 
they should be rested by less water 
and less syringing, and before starting 
up again have the weak shoots cut off 
and the side shoots of the leading 
stems cut back to two or three eyes. 
Winter, of course, would be the natural 
time for them to rest, but by starting 



into growth early in spring and resting 
in August and September you can get 
flowers during winter. Keeping these 
roses clean of aphis and red spider by 
syringing is the principal care. 

Well known varieties of this class 
are Marechal Niel, the magnificent 
golden yellow rose; Solfaterre, a grand 
sulphur yellow: Ophirie, a fine copper 
yellow: Gloire de Dijon, a beautiful 
creamy amber; and old La Marque, the 
old white rose that came in clusters 
with such luxuriant dark green foliage. 
Where these beautiful plants will do 
out of doors there are many fine vari- 
eties. 

Moss Roses. 

Everyone is fond of a Moss rose. 
There are now many fine varieties, 
and being hardy they will thrive 
wherever the Hybrid Perpetual class 
will do well. For propagation refer to 
the Hybrid Perpetuals, 

Lord Petuance's Sweet Briars. 

This is a new section, but they have 
proved themselves the past winter per- 
fectly hardy. They are as sweet scent- 
ed as the old English Sweet Briar and 
showy fiowers. They are a great ad- 
dition to our hardy flowering shrubs, 
and will doubtless be much planted. 
Like the H. P's. they can be propa- 
gated from the half ripened wood in 
sand, or from the matured wood in 
autumn and winter. 

Rosa Rugosa. 

Rosa Rugosa is a distinct species 
(from Japan) that is perfectly hardy. 
They have thick wrinkled or curly 



foliage, very distinct, with large showy 
single flowers of white and pink, and 
are covered in the autumn with large 
conspicuous red fruit. Inimense masses 
of these are now planted and they 
make splendid low plantations to the 
margins of taller shrubberies. Easily 
propagated from young or matured 
wood. 

Hardy Climbing Rose-s. 

While in the more temperate parts 
of our country the Noisette roses can 
be planted, we must confine ourselves 
to the hardy varieties. They are too 
well known to need any comment. 
They, propagate easily, and when 
planting them out they should be pro- 
tected for the first few years or till 
they get a good start. 

Some of the best of them are: Balti- 
more Belle, blush white; Bennett's 
Seedling, pure white; Gem of the 
Prairies, rosy carmine; Dundee Ram- 
bler, pure white; Allister Stella Gray, 
orange; and several others. 

For this purpose too we have the 
magnificent Ramblers, of which the 
Crimson Rambler was the forerunner. 
There are now yellow, pink and white 
forms of it, and as hardy climbing 
roses they are unequalled. 

The hardy climbers have a fine burst 
of bloom in June, but do not flower 
again that season. 

Wichuraiana Roses. 

This is a very new and distinct 
strain, and produced by crossing the 
Wichuraiana with many of our culti- 
vated rovses, including some of the well 
known Teas. Some of them will take 



188 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



high rank as climbers, and some being 
creeping or low growing will be 
adapted for covering rock work and 
for cemetery use. Some have their 
flowers distributed along the stem, 
which gives them a handsome wreath- 
like appearance, and others flower in 
clusters like Crimson Rambler. Others 
have the fragrance of the Sweet Briar, 
BO their pedigree is of various sources. 
I cannot speak from experience, but 
some of them are said to be valuable 
plants for forcing in pots. Mr. W. A. 



green character of the latter, and if 
they prove hardy and inherit the ever- 
blooming qualities of the Tea roses 
they must prove a great acquisition 
to our gardens. 

Other Classes. 

The Austrian Briar roses are a 
small class with bright yellow flowers, 
which cover the bush when in bloom. 
They don't last long but are very gay 
and beautiful, and the plant is per- 
fectly hardy. 




■4^ 



#«^ 






'C 



■^/■'.^ "^ 




Crimson Rambler Rose and Genista in a basket. 



Manda, of South Orange, New .Jersey, 
has sent out many fine varieties of 
these roses, among others: Universal 
Favorite large double flower of a soft 
light pink; South Orange Perfection, 
blush changing to white; Manda's Tri- 
umph a splendid climber, bearing 
large clusters of flowers. Those crossed 
with) the Tea varieties have the ever- 



There is a small class of roses that 
are truly monthly or continuoii^j 
blooming and yet perfectly hardy. 
Hermosa is a good type of this class, 
which botanically may belong to sev- 
eral classes, but for our purpose we 
will treat them all as monthly. Agrip- 
pina is another, and the Polyantha 
rose, Clothilde Soupert requires the 



same treatment. Young plants set out 
in early May will continue to bloom 
till hard frost sets in. Some protec- 
tion, should he given them in wintei-. 

These can be propagated during win- 
ter if you have a few plants growing 
under glass, or in October you can 
take the cuttings from outside and 
root them in the propagating bed. 

Many of the Hermosa and Soupert 
type are forced in pots for spring sales. 
For this purpose plant out strong 
young plants in spring, and encourage 
them to grow till fall. Don't lift them 
till we have had some good sharp 
frosts. Then pot them and cut down to 
five or six good eyes and plunge in a 
cold-frame and be sure not to leave 
them without ventilation on a bright, 
sunny day or the buds may start, which 
would hurt them very much if a very 
cold spell again caught them before 
they were brought in. When you bring 
them in start slowly and increase the 
heat as flowering time approaches. Of 
the Soupert type there are varieties in 
white, pink and yellow. 

We grew years ago a fine Bourbon 
rose called Appolina, a large pink 
flower, as good as many of the Hybrid 
Perpetuals, and a continuous bloomer. 
For the amateur this is a grand rose. 

The Madame Plantier type are com- 
pact growing plants that come with 
a grand burst of bloom and are soon 
over, but not more sO' than most of 
our hardy shrubs, and as they are per- 
fectly hardy they are splendid plants 
for a group.: a hedge, or a single speci- 
men. 

Bedding Roses. 

Where a bed. or border of roses is 
wanted by our customers,' and the sit- 
uation gets light and air, and the soil 
is not a worn-out garden (if it is you 
must supply good fresh loam and 
manure) then I believe in and do 
recommend the Hybrid Tea and com- 
mon Tea roses, knowing that they will 
give the greatest satisfaction. We 
know they will grow and bloom con- 
tinuously weeks after our tender 
plants are killed by frost, and months 
after the green worm and aphis has 
ceased to bother the roses. I reason 
with our patrons that strong young 
plants in 4-inch pots cost little if any 
more than their geraniums and can- 
nas, and if they get killed, which they 
expect, theiy have lost no more than 
they have in their ordinary bedding 
plants. 

In this class we have a great variety. 
Not all the Teas are good for this 
purpose, but many are, and the Hybrid 
Teas are splendid, and with a slight 
protection they will come through the 
winter without any harm. 

For a summer bed of roses you have 
many to choose from, and the follow- 
ing are good Hybrid Teas: La France, 
President Carnot. Kaiserin Augusta 
Victoria, Pierre Guillot^ Mme. Schwal- 
ler. Crimson Bedder. Mme. Pernet- 
Duoher. Lady Mary Fitzwilliam, 
Countess of Pembroke, and others. 

Among the Tea scented there is a 
still greater variety for this purpose. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



189 




Those I have proved as most satisfac- 
tory for sumnier bedding are: Bon 
Silene, Isabella Sprunt. Satrano, Du- 
chess de Brabant, Coquette de Lyon, 
Perle des Jardins, La Sylphide, Mme. 
Caroline Kuster, Marie Guillot. Souv. 
d'un Ami, Mme. Falcot, Mme. Welche. 
Goubault, Mme. Bravy, Mme. de 
Watteville, Sombreuil, and others. 
Some of the above are very old 
varieties, and you would not think 
of growing them during winter for 
cut flowers, but they are beautiful and 
free flowering out of doors. Our Queen 
of Queens, Catherine Mermet and its 
fine sports were not satisfactory bed- 
ded out in summer. 

Hybrid Perpetuals. 

These are the roses that are mostly 
planted to make a permanent bed. 
Many thousand of the budded stock 
are annually sold. Our department 
stores are now selling the imported 
stock at 10 plants for one dollar. There 
can't be a great margin for the de- 



Iron Frame Rose House with Solid Beds. 

partment store or a great profit to 
the grower, but the popular price 
catches the man or woman who is 
looking for a bargain, and they are 
numerous. They get well dried out be- 
fore they get into the purchaser's gar- 
den, and we haven't heard how they 
thrive. It is to be hoped they give 
one final "department" flower and 
then die, which the majority must. 

Whenever you can get roses on their 
own roots do so. They will be far 
more satisfactory to your customers. 
But some olj the finest sorts, the Bar- 
oness Rothschild typa for one, do not 
grow well on their own roots, and of 
those you must rely on the budded 
plants. If you import the budded stock 
it should be unpacked and laid in 
trenches in a cold-frame during winter, 
and when filling your orders in the 
spring see that they are carefully 
planted and insist on their being cut 
down to within six inches of the 
ground. 

If you handle but a few hundred 



they can be potted when received in 
the tall, a pot that will just hold the 
roots is large enough, and after cut- 
ting down to a few strong eyes plunge 
them in a frame and cover with glass. 
Never let them get too warm. These 
plants will come along slowly in April 
and be well rooted by first of May, 
and if lots of ventilation has been 
given, or better still the sash removed, 
they must be satisfactory to your cus- 
tomers as you should not lose one. 
But you want more than the depart- 
ment store price for them; you should 
get at least $6.00 per dozen. 

If you have land of your own you 
should propagate during fall and win- 
ter all the Hybrid Perpetual roses that 
do well on their own roots. Small 
plants put out in May will be most 
satisfactory plants for your customers 
by the following spring, or even the 
first fall if they have had good soil, 
but it is safer to plant in the spring. 
Tell your customers about the Manetti 
stock, and teach them to distinguish 



190 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



between the suckers of the stock and 
the rose. But when on their own roots 
danger of that trouble is impossible. 

The so-called tree roses are not to 
be recommended for our climate. They 
are called standard roses in Great 
Britain, and in that form countless 
thousands are grown. Here they look 
very charming the first season per- 
haps, and perhaps the next, but the 
third usually finishes them. They are 
budded on the -ivild briar. The briar 
stalks are collected from the hedge- 
rows and thickets, and are sold to the 
nurseryman tied up in bundles like an 
English tourist transports his walking 
sticks; and there is little more ap- 
parent life about them than a bundle 
of golf sticks, yet they grow, and on a 
side shoot near the top the bud is 
inserted the following ,June or July 
and in another year they are sold. 
But don't buy them it you live north 
o-f Washington. D. C. unless you live 
in the Northern Pacific States, where 
many plants flourish that won't in our 
eastern states. The dwarf or bush 
roses are much better for us. 

After a rose is well established there 
is not much use in strawing up the 
tops (you need to cut them quite 
severely every year If you want good 
flowers), but four or five inches of 
stable manure laid around the roots 
is a great help to them, and it need 
not be done till end of November. 

Among the Hybrid Perpetual roses 
that do well on their own roots are: 



Gen, Jacqueminot, crimson; Ulrich 
Brunner, deep pink; Mme. Laffay, red; 
Alfred Colomb, cherry red; Anna 
Alexieft, rose; Baron de Bonstettin, 
very dark crimson; Clio, blush; Coun- 
tess of Oxford, carmine: Duke of Ed- 
inburgh, crimson maroon: John Hop- 
per, bright rose: Mme. Gabriel Luizet. 
fine pink; Marshall P. Wilder, cherry 
rose: Mrs. Laxton, velvety red: Presi- 
dent Thiers, large red; Roger Lambe- 
lin, crimson, edges of petals white; 
Sir Garnet Wolsley, bright red. There 
are many other fine varieties but the 
above list contains some splendid 
sorts. 

Among the finest of those that do 
better when budded on the Manetti or 
Briar stocks are: Baroness Rothschild, 
a beautiful light pink; Captain Christy, 
llesh pink; Fisher Holmes, dark crim- 
son: Mabel Morrison, fine white; Mar- 
garet Dickson, white with pale pink 
center: Marie Baumann, crimson: 
Magna Charta. dark pink, very fine; 
Paul Neyron, dark pink, immense size; 
Prince Camille de Rohan, crimson 
maroon. In this short list will be 
found some of the finest roses in culti- 
vation. 

Hybrid Perpetual roses can be pro- 
pagated as follows, and this includes 
the hardy climbers or any of the de- 
ciduous kinds. When the current year's 
growth is about in that condition that 
the flower is fully developed it is called 
about half ripe. This is usually about 
middle of June. Prepare a frame in 



which you have trod in eighteen inches 
or two feet of stable manure; in fact 
make a mild hotbed with the slope 
facing north. Put three inches of soil 
on the manure and on that two inches 
of sand, and insert ,vour cuttings. Two 
ryes are enough, one above and one 
below the surface of the sand. Keep 
the sand moist and as cool as possible 
by shading, letting in only air enough 
to prevent too much moisture. By 
degrees they will endure more air, 
and in three or four weeks will be well 
rooted and can be soon potted into 
2 1-2 or 3-inch pots and stood in a cold- 
frame, but theiy must be carefully 
watered and shaded till they get hold 
of the soil. These plants could be 
planted out the following October, but 
1 would prefer to keep them plunged 
in a cold-frame and planted out the 
following April, when they will make 
fine plants. 

Another plan is by using the dor- 
mant wood in the fall. Before very 
hard frost, say middle of November, 
cut off the well ripened growths of 
♦he previous summer and cut them in- 
to lengths of two or three eyes. Tie 
them in bunches of 2.5 or 50. and wrap 
some moist sphagnum around the ends, 
and store these bunches away in flats 
under a bench in a cool house. In two 
months the ends will be well calloused 
and then they can be placed in a few 
inches of sand that is a little warmer 
than the house, and .50 degrees for the 
house will do well. They will soon 




House of Young American Beauty Roses, 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



J9I 




House of American Beauty Roses in Full Bearing. 



root and can be potted off and grown 
on to be planted out in April or May. 
Always remember that although these 
roses are hardy any growth that is 
made under glass is tender and will 
not stand a frost, so they should not 
go out till danger of frost is past. 
Tills is the simplest and surest way 
of propagating any of the deciduous 
roses. 

Forcing Hybrid Perpetuals, 

Since the American Beauty has been 
grown in such quantity there are much 
fewer of the H. P. roses grown for 
their flowers, but they are wanted in 
pots, and such sorts as .Jacqueminot. 
Brunner. Magna Charta. Anna de 
Diesbach and Mme. Gabriel I^uizet 
force well, and if properly prepared 
make fine pot plants, or their blooms 
can be cut. The fall importations of 
these roses are not satisfactory for 
this purpose. The long journey and 
the length of time is a poor prepara- 
tion for spring forcing, so strong 
plants with good stems should be ob- 
tained of our American nurserymen. 

The wood should be well ripened be- 
fore lifting and they should be potted 
as soon as possible and the stems cut 
down to three good eyes on each stem. 
The fewer shoots you have the finer 
they will be, and the more you have 
the poorer they will be, K the wood 



of these roses has been well ripened, 
there is no good in letting hard frost 
touch them again, but they should be 
in a cold-frame till at least New Year's 
and then removed to a house where it 
if not over 40 degrees at night. They 
will endure nothing like forcing for 
the first six weeks after being brought 
in. 

The idea is to begin as low as pos- 
sible with fire heat and slowly increase, 
which at flowering time, which may 
be the 1st to 15th of April, ihey will 
want 5.5 to 60 degrees at night. If you 
cion't want them as earl.v as April then 
leave them longer in the frame and 
they will come on all the better. It 
is useless to try and force these roses 
too fast because they have no working 
roots, but will make roots as top 
growth develops. 

If you want any of these roses as 
early as January you must use plants 
that are in quite a different condition. 
For those it is best to lift in the fall, 
i..r purchase, and pot and treat as you 
do those abov'e described, only they 
should be left out till March and then 
brought in and started growing. They 
should be encouraged to make a strong 
healthy growth. Thin out the shoots 
to four of five of the strongest. By 
,)uly they will have made some long 
stout shoots which should not have 
been cut off with the flowers; it would 



be better to pinch olf the flowers and 
let the strength go into wood. 

In July they can be placed outside 
and plunged and mulched, but not over 
wateired or the eyes may break and 
grow, and that is what you don't want. 
By end of August lay them on their 
sides so that they don't get the rain, 
and endeavor to dry them off, but not 
too rapidly or the wood will shrivel. 
Till the first of October the best place 
would be in a frame where you could 
cover them in case of rains. After the 
first frost or two there is no danger of 
their buds starting. 

Now, these roses are in a fit state 
to 'be forced at any time and could if 
wanted be had in flower by the holi- 
days. They will not want any shifting, 
but as the growth starts and the roots 
are feeding they can be mulched and 
surfaced with loam and cow manure. 
The forcing of these plants is much 
easier than those lifted the same fall. 
The pots are full of roots ready to 
begin active growth directly the top 
starts. It is not advisable to start 
them too warm at first or yon will get 
a weak growth, but they are much 
less liable to injury than the others. 

I did not mention it, but of course 
when starting into heat you must 
again shorten back the shoots to two 
or three stout eyes. These roses are 
sometimes forced for several years. 



192 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



The principal object is to get a good 
strong growth in the summer and 
ripen it in the fall. Over potting should 
be avoided, and with surfacing and 
liquid manure you can grow them for 
three or four years in the same pot. 
A good strong plant that started off 
well in the spring should need when 
lifted from the ground a 6-inch pot. 

.Jacqueminot, Bruuner and other Hy- 
brid Perpetuals that are planted on 
a bench are put in four or five inches 
of soil in March or April. They should 
be good, strong plants when first 
benched. If budded plants, they 
should be cut down to a few eyes. If 
plants propagated that spring, they 
will need one stopping. They must be 
encouraged to make a strong growth 
that summer and in September be 
gradually dried off to ripen their 
growth. This is the most particular 
period of their time and they must 
not be dried off too quickly. Let in all 



I intended to remark at the opening 
of these notes on the so-called Hybrid 
Perpetual roses that the term is high- 
ly misleading. They are not perpetual 
at all. Perhaps with a cool, wet sum- 
mer you may get a few scattering 
flowers, and we usually do get an odd 
one here and there in September or 
October, but beautiful as is this most 
important class of roses In color, form 
and fragrance, it is all wrong to call 
them perpetual. So you see that a 
man who devotes nearly a year, and in 
case of solid beds, the whole year to 
one crop of flowers, must not only be 
sure of success but must realize a high 
price from his blooms or he is a loser. 

The American Beauty is a true Hy- 
brid Perpetual, for with proper man- 
agement it blooms from August till 
the following May; not profusely, or 
they would not command the high 
winter price they do; still they keep 
sending up flowering shoots. In an- 



and put away In a cold-frame, but kept 
from very hard freezing. 

After New Year's they are brought 
in and slowly brought along. Until I 
tried this plan I had no idea that the 
Beauty was such a grand rose for the 
purpose. The year I alluded to we 
had several hundred plants for Easter 
that would average six open flowers 
and six buds, with stems twelve to fif- 
teen inches long. Nothing sells like 
them, and we easily got $2.50 and $3.00 
each for them. When first they break 
you would think they were going to 
be all blind, but they soon deceive you. 
Don't attempt to keep any unsold 
plants over; far better raise a new lot 
every year. 

The Crimson Rambler (and we are 
trying the Yellow, which will doubtless 
force as well) has become a standard 
Easter plant with all of us. You can 
obtain strong field grown plants in 
November, and if their shoots are six 




the cold air you can and if some frost 
is inside, so mnch the better. It is 
much better to ripen the wood by air 
and cold than by drying at the root. 

The time of starting will depend on 
the time you want the flowers, and 
the earlier you want them the longer 
time you must give. Cut them close if 
you expect fine flowers. Mulch the 
bed and begin firing slowly, with plen- 
ty of syringing. If you get over the 
first few weeks without losing any 
plants, you are all right. The process 
from now on is plenty of water and 
syringing, with a gradual rise of tem- 
perature till flowering time. 

These forcing hybrids are some- 
times planted out in solid beds and 
forced year after year. It is precisely 
the same process. A growth in sum- 
mer, a ripening in fall and pruning 
back and starting with heat again at 
whatever time you want your crop. 



Range of Short-span-to-the-Sooth Rose Houses. 

other place I intend to say something 
about this wonderful variety as grown 
for cut flowers, but here I wish to say 
that although I have never seen it 
satisfactory when planted out of doors, 
it has been to me the most profitable 
of pot roses. 

For this purpose we plant out a few 
hundred in a light house in four or 
five inches of soil as soon as our lilies 
are gone, in April. The best lot that 
I ever raised were planted on April 
1st, Easter being on March the 25th 
of that year. The flowers you get that 
summer and fall will pay you for bench 
room and labor far better than chry- 
santhemums. In November we dry 
them off some, having previously put 
in a lot of cuttings in the sand. The 
old plants are lifted and cut down to 
seven or eight inches of the pot. Not 
so short as we would the Hybrid Per- 
petuals, for the eyes near the base are 
not as good. They are then matured 



or seven feet long shorten them back 
to three and four feet. They require 
a 7 or 8-inch pot. Pot them and keep 
very cool for the first month, but if 
Easter is early you want to begin early 
to start them growing. The success 
will all depend on starting slowly, but 
twelve to fourteen weeks is none too 
much to allow them in the houses. 
You can tie them in any shape, but the 
canes should not he allowed to run 
up straight. You will get a more even 
break if they are wound around a few 
stakes. 

Another plan, entailing more time 
and labor but a surer way to get 
flowers in abundance and requiring 
less time in winter to force, is to pot 
some strong plants in April and put 
them in 7 or 8-inch pots and start 
growing in the coolest house you have. 
In fact, under a bench would do till 
they break; then give them a light 
bench and some long wires to support 



THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



193 



them, and by midsummer you will iiave 
five or six strong, long growths. Other 
growths should he rubbed off. If you 
have too many caues you will get a 
weaker growth. Put them out of doors 
in July and by end of August try and 
shorten up on water and the wood will 
ripen. As cold weather comes they 
will want little water and will lose 
Iheir foliage. 

These plants can be forced at any 
time, and although the canes are not 
quite as strong as the field grown 
ones, every eye gives us a cluster of 
bloom. After a few frosts we lay the 
plants down in a cold-frame and cover 
with boards, and a little hay or straw 
on the plants, where they can remain 
till you want to bring them in. 

All the Ramblers we get are budded 
on the briar, hence their wonderful 
vigorous growth. And as long as we 
can buy of our nurserymen fine plants 
at such a low cost it would never pay 
us to bother about either budding them 
or propagating from cuttings. 

Tea Roses. 

This is far and away the most im- 
portant section to the commercial 
fiorist. They are everything to him. 
They are used on all and every occa- 
sion and every day in the year. And 
what an improvement in them in 25 
years I And the method of growing 
them has kept pace with th? improved 
varieties. It is to the Frenchmen we 
are mostly indebted tor the finest Tea 
Roses. Perhaps that will not always 
be so. Our American nurserymen and 
florists are doing a great deal in hy- 
bridizing and raising seedlings. Mr. 
E. G. Hill told me this summer that 
he had, I am afraid to say how many 
thousand, but I am sure it was 5,000, 
young seedlings of ev^ry conceivable 
cross. Surely we shall have some 
young Hoosiers that will startle the 
rose world. L3t them come! We can 
stand several more shades. 

Is it not remarkable that with the 
hundreds of fine Teas our demand 
seems filled with so limited a number 
of varieties? It is almost, or perhaps 
quite, correct to say that of all the 
millions of roses cut and sold, four 
varieties would cover 75 per cent of 
them, and one of them is not a Tea, 
the American Beauty. The remaining 
three are the two glorious sports of 
Catherine Mermet. Bridesmaid and the 
Bride, and the crimson Meteor. New 
varieties come and go, their advent 
heralded with shouts of praise and 
loud advertising, and their exit is a 
quiet retreat. They have answered 
two purposes: they have made money 
for the raiser and introducer and given 
us a little more experience. What a 
lot of experience we do get as we pass 
along. 

A good place to- begin with the Tea 
roses will be at the propagation. They 
root most easily anywhere from No- 
vember till .\pril. and both earlier and 
later, but slower and not so surely. 
We feel as much certainty that the 
rose cuttings will root as we do when 
we put in a batch of salvia. With the 



sand at 65 degrees and the house from 
50 to 55 degrees you cannot fail if you 
keep the sand moist. I never owned a 
north side propagating bench, and 
there is no need of it. Any bench will 
do if shade is supplied for the first few 
days. 

Pot off as soon as the roots are 
started and shade again till the plants 
have started to grow, and then they 
want the full light, as they do every 
minute for the remainder of their ex- 
istence. 

The usual time to propagate, and the 
best time, is in January and February. 
Then you have time to get the young 
plants into a 3-inch pot for a couple of 
months before plantieg time. One au- 
thor says the cutting should be of 
only one eye and another says it should 
be from only flowering wood. I would 
much rather have the cutting of two 
eyes, one below and one above th? 
surface of the sand, leaving a leaf or 
part of the leaf on the upper eye. If 
the wood is of any size, not too spind- 
ling and weak, it makes no difference 
to the future plant whether it is blind 
or flowering. That I have proved, and 
although I am by no means an exten- 
sive rose grower, the most vigorous 
young plants I ever grew were from 
cuttings of blind wood, and rather 
small and hard at that. 

Large rose growers can't plant all 
their houses in a week, so they begin 
end of May and keep on till July. 
Those planted end of June should be 
in good bearing by middle of October, 
and many buds could have been cut 
before that if it wen? wise to let them 
fiowtr, which it is not On raised 
benches four inches of soil is consid- 
ered ample, and some growers plant 
in three inches, allowing for future 
mulching to add another half or three- 
quarters of an inch. The rows on the 
bench fifteen inches apart and the 
plants one foot apart, is as close as you 
can plant them. 

The bottom of the benches should be 
of 2x4 scantling, or not wiiler than 2x6, 
and between such board or scantling 
leave a space of three-fourths of an 
inch when building. When the boards 
swell with the wet soil thev will only 
be half an inch apart. Perfect drainage 
is of the utmost importance. Unless 
the superfluous water passes freely 
through you will have no success. 
When the soil gets into that condition 
that the bed does not want water in a 
month there is something wrong, and 
most likely your rose leaves will be 
largely off by that time. 

The soil of the bed should be quite 
firm, not beaten down as you would 
a mushroom bed, but good and solid. 
Plant very little below the surface, 
and firm the soil around the ball: un- 
less the soil of the bed is very dry 
only water at the plant. In a few days, 
when the plants want it again, the 
whole bed can be watered. 

If there is any excuse for shading it 
is just now in the hottest days, for the 
sake of the men who have to work in 
120 degrees or more and the young 
plants that may have had their roots 



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194 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



very slightly distinbeil Ijy planting. 
If yon shade let it be only a very tem- 
porary kind. A Inmp of clay dissolved 
in a pail of water and thrown on with 
a dipper will do very well. It will 
wash off at the first rain, and then you 
want it off. 

Weeds grow apace in thi.s tropical 
heat and It's a poor soil that won't 
grow weeds: they should be kept 
pulled, not only now but should never 
be seen. There is no harm in a 
scratching over of the surface for a 
month or so after planting, but later 
the surface should not be disturbed: 
hand weeding should do it all. 

The young plants will grow fast, and 
there will be no trouble with mildew 
till the end of September, but from that 
time till steady firing begins is the 
most critical time, when we have slight 
frosts at night or a rainy cold day and 
night and the next week a warm sunny 
time with the thermometer at SO de- 
grees in the shade. Just such a time 
as I have described we have lately ex- 
perienced, and it is 80 degrees at noon 
to-day and no wind to fill out the flap- 
ping sails. 

From the time the I'oses are planted 
till frosts occur they can't possibly 
have too much ventilation. To digress 
a moment. We noticed in Philadelphia 
that they leave the end door open on 
a warm day in October, and we hear 
sometimes of side ventilation on roses. 
It may do in some localities but it will 
never do with us. Bottom or side ven- 
tilation or an open door for any length 
of time would be fatal because the 
draught would produce mildew pro- 
duce it to a certainty. 

When the nights get down to .50 
degrees outside you should have a little 
fire heat. Here is the advantage of 
steam, as you can let it in through one 
pipe: leave air on at night when this 
gentle fire heat is going. You don't 
want a high temperature luit yon 
want a dry, healthy atmosplwie. All 
along about this time when using any 
artificial heat try to keep the house 
down to 55 degrees, and just about this 
time put a dab of liver of sulphur on 
the pipes. 

There are times when from various 
causes you may not be able to fire till 
end of Octoher, and have been with- 
out fire on chilly nights. By shutting 
up the rose houses tight "on these 
nights you will notice in the morning 
the dewdrops in tiny beads on the 
edges of the pretty little leaves. If 
that continues for three or four nights 
you will have an attack of a fungus 
that is much worse than our common 
mildew, I have seen it take every 
young leaf off in a few days, and actu- 
ally kill the young red growth. You 
can easily distinguish it from mildew 
for it shows on the young, tender 
leaves as distinct silver threads. A 
little fire and air would have effectually 
prevented this, but if you can't fire 
then leave on air. Far better have 
the house cool and dry, than cool, close 
and damp. I have learnt what this 
fungus will do years ago, and have not 




Vase of Tea Roses. 



forgotten it, for it touches our most 
sensitive organ, the pocket. 

When steady firing commences the 
night temperature should be kept as 
near as possible to the right mark, 
as to which there is not much differ- 
ence of opinion. Some growers liT^e 
to keep higher than others. A reason- 
abl.v low temperature means fewer 
buds and higher quality, and a higher 
temperature means more buds and 
poorer quality. From 54 to 5S degrees 
at night for all the ordinary Teas 
seems to be agreed upon, and I incline 
to the lowest mark, believing that 
quality is better than quantity. Amer- 
ican Beauty should have 6(> degrees, 
and the useful crimson Meteor should 
have from 65 to tiS degrees. Without 
a high temperature the Meteor is use- 
less in the coldest months. 

This fall at Mr. John H. Dunlop's. 
of Toronto, I saw some grand houses of 
roses ventilated by a thermostat 
which was controlled by water pres- 
sure. He was delighted with it. and 
if it works perfectly it must be the 
thing, for it never forgets. You can. 
of course, set them to any degree. I 



will have more to say about ventila- 
tion in another chapter, but must say 
here, that it is one of the most im- 
portant parts of rose growing. Seventy 
at day would be a good temperature: 
when any above that ventilation should 
lie given, and where the ventilators are 
continuous and open at the ridge it is 
much safer given than with a ventila- 
tor here and there that lets the cold 
wind in. 

There may be days when there is a 
cold, cutting wind, and the sun will 
raise the temperature of the house to 
75 degrees, and it will be better to let 
it remain so than let in such a chilly 
blast. Again there may be dull, damp, 
mild days when it is better and proper 
to fire briskly and give air. An exper- 
ienced gardener can tell directly 
whether a house is too chilly or too 
hot: whether the sashes are up too high 
or whether the atmosphere is too close. 
You ought to be a living, breathing 
thermostat, but if you were you 
could not divide yourself into twenty 
sections, and those gardening attri- 
butes are no more transmitted than 
the art of music or poetry or telling a 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



J95 



story. So you mvisf lay down a rule 
and your men must follow it to the 
best of their ability. 

Young roses of all the kinds we 
grow very quickly throw up buds 
which you must pick oft. As the plants 
grow along in August and September 
they will continue to form buds, and 
instead of picking the buds off as soon 
as they form let them grow somewhat 
larger. There is little weakening of 
the plant going on by forming petals 
(it is seed bearing that weakens), and 
then cut the bud off with two or three 
eyes of the growth: you will get a bet- 
ter break from the remaining eyes. 

When cutting the fully developed 
buds after you are letting the plants 
flower you should cut back to three 
eyes. If very strong and the buds are 
numerous you may leave only two 
eyes, but three is better. 

The neatest and best support for 
roses is a straight wire stake, one for 
each plant, and they are held in place 
at top by some lighter wire running 
over each row of plants three or tour 
feet above the plants, and to which 
the upright wire stake is fastened by 
a string or a piece of fine wire. 

One large grower I know, and a 
good one. runs stove pipe wire across 
the surface of the bench, or an inch 
above it. near the plant, and a similar 
wire five or six feet above the plant, 
and from the bottom wire to top one 
r\ms at each plant a strong but cheap 
string. This answers the purpose just 
as well, but the strings are thrown 
away every year and the bottom wire 
has to be removed, so- it costs .some- 
thing, while the stout wire stake once 
bought will last indefinitely or till the 
end of the Philippine war. 

I have said nothing yet about water- 
ing, and it is the hardest part to 
descibe. To a gardener it should be 
only necessary to say, "water when 
the.v want it." Texture of soil and 
health and vigor of plant will make a 
difference. Sometimes you will have 
a big cut all in one week, especially 
is this true of the first and second 
cuttings. Be careful then not to over- 
water, for the plants have lost a great 
deal of their foliage and don't need 
so much. Let the beds get very 
slightly on the dry side and then 
water. Don't let the hose run or; the 
beds in a hard stream. A coarse rose 
is a good thing; it will leave the sur- 
face of the bed in a moi-e friable state, 
and you should only give water enough 
to wet through to the boards. A soak- 
ing that drenches the bed and runs 
out through the boards must carry 
with it lots of the fertilizing proper- 
ties of the soil and manure. 

In sunny weather the surface of the 
bed will often appear dry when an inch 
down it is abundantly moist. If we are 
strangers to the texture of soil we are 
watering, then sight is not an in- 
fallible guide, but with the addition of 
a touch you are dull indeed if you 
don't know when a plant or bed needs 
watering. 

We syringe for two purposes. When 
using the word "syringing" it may 



lead our brother craftsmen across the 
Atlantic to believe that we use a brass 
syringe. "Why. bless your dear heart, 
don't you know, old fellow," our boys 
would get so laz.v with a hand syringe 
that they would never keep down the 
red spider, and fancy a man, or two 
men. syringing a house 600 feet long 
and 22 feet wide! They would have to 
begin on the 4th of July to get them 
syringed by Thanksgiving. The 3-4 
or 1-2-inch hose will not only syringe 
them as well but much better, for you 
will do it thoroughly with that beau- 
tiful "upper-cut" so dear to a real 
gardener. 

Syringing is done on bright mornings 
throughout the season, to produce a 
genial healthy moisture that is relished 
by the leaves, and it is also done to 
prevent the lodgment of red spider 
on the under side of the leaf (and the 
spider is ever ready to locate on the 
fine leaves). If you are free of the 
spider then don't syringe on wet. 
damp days or very cold, stormy days; 
no harm at all in missing a day but 
when firing very hard, damp down the 
paths, tmder the benches, etc. 

The greatest scourge to the rose 
grower is the mildew, the minute fun- 
gus that lays hold and soon covers 
every leaf. It cripples the petals, ruins 
the leaves and stunts the plants. A 
dose of it in winter is a calamity, but 
prevalent as it is our largest and best 
growers never fear it and seldom have 
it. for they know its causes and never 
give it a chance to get a start. Mildew 
is caused by any check to the vitality 
of the plant, which shrinks up the 
cellular tissue and renders the leaves 
susceptible to the resting spores, whit h 
must be ever fioating around. Per- 
fectly healthy leaves resist it, as do 
healthy lungs resist the germs of tu- 
berculosis, while weak ones succumb, 
for consumption is contagious or in- 
fectious and not hereditary, as for- 
merly supposed; only in certain fami- 
lies there is a predisposition, and in 
certain plants there is most truly a 
predisposition for mildew. Catherine 
Mermet is always ready on the slight- 
est excuse to be host to this trouble- 
some fungus, but as once said before 
in these pages, these things are all 
right as they are, and if there was no 
reward for watchfulness, care and 
brains, there would be nothing in it 
and the wise man would be no bett?r 
than the fool man, which would be 
very annoying in this world, however 
great equality is to be carried out in 
the next, 

A ventilator left open too late, a 
draught from an open door, v?ntilation 
forgotten till too late in the day, or a 
sudden drop at night from say 56 de- 
grees, their usual temperature, to 46 
degrees or less. Any of these causes 
will produce mildew, and all must bs 
guarded against. 

There are several ways of applying 
the best remedy, sulphur. Mix it with 
linseed oil and paint one steam or hot 
water pipe. Sulphide of potassium dis- 
solved and mixed with clay can be 
painted on the pipe, but do not put 



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196 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



too much on. Flour of sulphur thrown 
on the plants does not do much good, 
as it is not the sulphur itself but the 
fumes you want. Sulphur put in shal- 
low pans or on bricks and placed 
where the sun will strike them will 
emit quite a little of the fumes. All 
of these can he used as preventives or 
as cures. 

For aphis smoking is not advisable. 
I am certain I have seen its ill effects. 
Vaporizing, as described in chapter on 
Insecticides, is best, and the plan of 
putting a hot (but not red hot) piece 
of iron into an iron vessel containing 
either the Rose Leaf extract, diluted 
ten to one, or the Nikoteen, reduced 
twenty to one, will do first rate. See 
that the dish or iron pan is deep 
enough so that the liquid does not boil 
over and waste when the iron is drop- 
ped into it. 

Those whose water supply comes 
from river, lake or reservoir should 
have some means of warming it in 
winter and early spring. When steam 
IS used this is easily done by letting 
the three-quarter or 1-inch water pipe 
run through a larger steam pipe, but 
when hot water is used there is no 
chance to do this, and it is better to 
have large barrels elevated in your 
shed that can be filled a dav aliead 
and when used the water is about the 
same temperature as your shed. Those 
who are away from the cities and 
towns have usually their water tanks 
under cover of their sheds with the 
means of warming the water with a 
steam or hot water pipe. 

The water does not need to be warm, 
but when it comes out of our city 
mains it is little over freezing, and 
to water a rose bed with water at that 
temperature in January can't be good. 
If you can raise the water to 50 de- 
grees that would be much better and 
high enough. 

Soils of different textures grow good 
roses. Wm. Paul & Son, some years 
ago in an advertisement and descrip- 
tion of their place, said: "At one nur- 
sery we have a clay suitable for the 
Hybrid Perpetuals, and at another a 
light loam suitable for the Tea Roses," 
Those were not just the words, but 
near enough. We have observed roses 
growing finely in many different kinds 
and textures of soil, but I must say 
that the tallest, strongest and most 
vigorous Brides and Mermets I have 
ever seen were in five inches of clay 
that needed a hammer to break it up, 
and that was at the end of December 
and under the care of a man who had 
never tried his hand at the business 
till that year. 

It is useless to comment on the dif- 
ferent soils that have grown good 
roses. What we want to know is 
which is the best when it can be had. 
Then I would prefer above all the 
top three, or perhaps four, inches of 
a rather heavy loam pasture. Not the 
pasture from an orchard that had been 
laid down forty years and was moss 
grown and the surface containing the 
deposit of rotten leaves, but a good 
fresh pasture that the cows had been 



grazing on for a few years. If it's still 
more on the heavy side, no harm. The 
poorest soil of all would be a fiberless 
sand. 

On asking one very large and suc- 
cessful rose grower what manure he 
used, he replied "any he could get," 
and a mixture of animal manures is 
more likely to supply what is needed 
for the rose than the use of one would 
be. But pure sheep manure must be 
used cautiously, and a proportion of 
one to twenty of soil is enough. Soil 
is often mixed haphazard, one por- 
tion getting more manure or bone meal 
than another. 




Pillar Rose. 

A prudent grower cuts his soil in 
October or November and piles it up 
under an open shed, and a long shed 
it is. It is not put under the shed to 
keep the rain from it, but being dry 
it can be worked over earlier in the 
spring, and the men can work at if 
rain or shine. This is a valuable point. 
He has a frame made without bottom, 
with handles extending at both ends. 
The frame is nine feet long by three 
feet wide and one foot deep. That is 
just one cubic yard. As the soil is 
chopped down it is thrown into this 
box and when it is even full a certain 
portion of manure is thrown on top. 
and then a portion of bone dust, 
spreading manure and bone dust over 



the surface. The frame is then lifted 
up and that lot is shoveled away into 
a pile. By this means there is no 
guess work, all parts of the bench 
have the same quality. 

The quantity of manure (cow ma- 
nure is most often used) is a matter 
of opinion. One-sixth the bulk of the 
soil is quite enough, and one peck of 
bone dust to one yard will be a good 
but safe allowance. Don't get the bone 
dust or meal too coarse, or it will be 
thrown out before you get the benefit 
of it. In placing the soil on the bench 
I have heard it asked. How do you 
keep the soil from running through the 
crack between the boards? There 
should always be coarse pieces enough 
of the soil to place over the spaces. 
If not, some well rotted stable manure 
will answer the purpose. 

In shallow beds, such as all roses 
are mostly grown in, they want sev- 
eral mulchings. If they have grown 
fast and vigorous they will need the 
mulching all the more. If planted in 
June they can be mulched in August 
and again in October. It is better to 
mulch lightly and often. A good mulch 
would be well rotted cow manure, to 
which add one quart of bone meal to 
a bushel of the manure and one-third 
of loam, and put on only half an inch 
each time. About first of February 
mulch again and again in April. This 
last mulch will be not only for manur- 
ing the plants but will prevent their 
drying out so fast and can be a little 
heavier than the others. 

I have had no experience with liquid 
manure except in applying it by water- 
ing can, .which is too laborious a job 
for a rose or carnation house. Where it 
can be pumped through the pipes or 
run through by gravitation its appli- 
cation must be very beneficial, par- 
ticularly when the bed is full of roots. 
Be sure not to overdo it in strength. 
A liquid made from animal manures 
would be the safest. Here is a chemi- 
cal liquid, published some time ago 
and said to be excellent for roses, car- 
nations or chrysanthemums. It is a 
formula puldished by Prof. Paul Wag- 
ner, of Darmstadt, and republished 
here by Prof. W. E. Britton. Quanti- 
ties can of course be increased to any 
dimensions: 

Phosphate of ammonia oz. 1 

Nitrate of soda oz. 1% 

Nitrate of potash oz. 1% 

Sulphate of ammonia oz. 1% 

Water gal. 50 

Although the American Beauty is a 
widely different rose from the Tea sec- 
tion, yet its growing for winter flow- 
ers is the same, and I will say that in 
propagating it I have never found the 
slightest difficulty at any time from 
Noveifiber to April, or even May. 
Choose wood that is medium in 
strength, and don't use either the 
green top or the hard base. When pot- 
ting them off I have lost quite a num- 
lier by their being left exposed to a 
bright sun. Be careful to shade and 
keep moist for a few days. Let there 
be always two eyes to the cutting. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



197 




House of Meteor Roses. 



In growing them on into 3. or pos- 
sibly 4-inch pots, gTVe them all the 
light and air you can till planting time, 
as you do the Tea varieties. The 
Beauties want to flower early, but the 
buds should be picked oft till end of 
August. From then, till first o£ Nov- 
ember you 'Will get a good many nice 
buds with 18 to 30-inch stems, and 
the stems will break again and usually 
send up another flowering stem, but 
as soon as the dark weather sets in 
the break from a strong cut down 
shoot will be blind, or practically 
blind, for it may grow ten feet long 
before it flowers. So, after the first 
of November if you are looking for 
flowers at the holidays, when they are 
worth $1..50 each, you must let the 
Hower fully expand and then cut it 
off at the neck and sacrifice it. You 
will notice that at the axil of the leaf 
just below the flower there is already 
a young growth. That growth will 
give a flower six weeks later, and you 
will be getting a dollar for your flower 
instead of twenty-five ceijts, or less. 

American Beauties are very liable to 
be troubled with red spider, and should 
be thoroughly syringed, but never on 
damp, cloudy days or late in the day. 

iSome growers carry over for the 
second winter their beds of roses, 
both on benches and in solid beds. I 
have never seen a bed of this kind 
equal to a young well managed lot, 
but they occasionally do very well up 
to about February. When intended to 



be grown on for a second winter they 
should have a little light shade in 
June, July and August, or they get so 
terribly exhausted. Plants in four or 
five inches of soil will not bear to be 
dried out but very slightly, and that 
better be done in July. All the pruning 
they need is just the blind and weak 
and worn out wood cut out. The young 
vigorous growth should be left un- 
touched. 

Those in solid beds, say a toot of 
soil, can be dried off considerably 
more and can also be much harder cut 
back. In a foot of strong, heavy loam 
we had a bed of old Safrano, Isabella 
Sprunt and Bon Silene years ago, and 
we used to let the bed get hard and 
cracked. About the first week in 
August we pruned them back to bare 
wood, gave them a heavy mulch of cow 
manure and started again, and I have 
never seen more roses, to the square 
foot than those plants produced for 
several years. 

The plan of running hot water or 
steam pipes through rubble stone with 
a foot of soil or less on top, is I believe 
abandoned. It is certainly nonsense 
to think that roses want bottom heat, 
and no pipes are run under a bench. 
Mr. Gasser, of Cleveland, who grows 
roses largely, is a strong advocate of 
a bench on, or a few inches above the 
surface, of the ground, on which he 
puts 2-inch drain tiles close together. I 
cannot see any advantage in this plan, 
excepting that it affords a most ex- 



cellent drainage and would be a fine 
bottom to any solid bed. 

Roses for summer blooming are not 
given the attention that they deserve. 
In June, July and August we frequent- 
ly have a difficulty in getting large, 
clean flowers. Houses for this pur- 
pose should run north and south, be- 
cause they would be the coolest. The 
beds should be well drained, solid beds 
affording plenty of head room, for 
these plants will be kept in the borders 
for several years and will be a con- 
siderable size before outgrowing their 
usefulness. You must begin in the 
early spring with planting and will 
cut a very paying crop the following 
summer and fall. 

In October all possible ventilation 
should be given and less water ffnd 
syringing. With a lower tsmperature 
growth will cease and in December 
and January and February if you just 
keep the house above the freezing 
point it is enough. A few degrees of 
frost will do no harm, but don't for- 
get your water pipes if you let the 
frost in. 

Early in March start them up again. 
As the wood is flrm and ripe and the 
roots inactive these roses can be 
pi-uned hard when starting them in 
spring, and will bear a good heavy 
mulch of cow manure. Don't start 
vrith too much heat at once, but as 
the roots are undisturbed they will 
break immediately and can soon be 
given the usual rose house treatment. 



198 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



As all the varieties you would grow 
for this purpose belong to the Tea or 
Hybrid Tea class you can make the 
season of rest still shorter and pick 
good flowers up to the middle of No- 
vember, and merely lower the temper- 
ature down to 35 or 40 degrees till end 
of January, when you can lightly 
prune and start growing again. 

For this purpose there is no finer 
white than the grand Kaiserin Augusta 
Victoria. Perle des Jardins is the best 
yellow and comes fine in the warm 
weather. President Carnot. the blush 
white and pink is splendid for the pur- 
pose, and for a red Meteor delights 
in the summer heat. Old X^a France 
will flower to perfection with this 
treatment. 

In our largest cities the summer rose 
does not receive much attention, for 
society is largely absent. In our 
salubrious climate people stop here, 
and besides that roses are wanted 
every day in the year. 

My readers will know more about 
the varieties of the Tea roses to grow 
than I can tell them, for they are 
familiar to all. The American Beauty 
stands first, if not in quantity most 
assuredly in high quality, and there 
is nothing in sight to depose it. Bride 
for white, and Bridesmaid for a clear 
pink, stand unrivalled, and their 
parent, C. Mermet. is still a most beau- 
tiful pink. Meteor is the standard red 
or crimson, but the beautiful Liberty 
is likely to depose it. If I>iberty proves 



to mention them may be misleading, 
as they have not yet been proved as all 
round worthy candidates to displace 
well known kinds. There will be no 
lack of advertising if they prove them- 
selves desirable varieties. 

Within the past two or three years 
there has been adopted by many rose 
growers a new method of propagat- 
ing, viz.: grafting. The necessity for 
this is because some of our standard 
varieties, like Bride and Bridesmaid, 
are showing lack of vigor, and when 
grafted on the Manetti stock they 
grow much stronger and better. There 
is no doubt the stronger and more 
vigorous Manetti stock must induce a 
heavier growth to the rose. Unless 
.vou are in a large way of business you 
had better buy your grafted stock if 
you are not satisfied with the way your 
own stock grows. For a full and com- 
plete description of the operation of 
grafting refer to any of the trade pa- 
pers containing Mr. Robert Craig's pa- 
per on that subjact. read to the Omaha 
convention, or to a report of the soci- 
ety's meeting. You should be a mem- 
ber of the Society of American Flor- 
ists; if not. you deserve to remain in 
the dark. Briefly the operation is this: 
The Manetti stocks are imported from 
Europe at a very low cost. In the fall 
they can be heeled in in a cold frame 
till winter. In January or February or 
later pot them in 214-inch pots, and 
stand on any bench in about 50 de- 
grees. As soon as you see root action 



ing of the stem is where the sap flows, 
and there is where adhesion will first 
take place. Match the stock and scion 
as neatly as you can and then tie 
round the splice with raffia that has 
been made soft and pliable by wetting. 
Place the pots immediately in a frame 
on a bench where the pots can be 
plunged in a heat of 65 to 70 degrees, 
and the tops kept close by the glass 
covering. It is well to have partitions 
in the frame for each batch, so they 
can be aired when needed. In two 
weeks adhesion will have taken place 
and then some ventilation can be giv- 
en, and in four or five weeks the 
plants can be removed to an ordinary 
bench. But be careful not to let too 
much sun or draught be upon them 
for another two or three we?ks. For 
the first two weeks in the frame the 
air must be kept moist, but very lit- 
tle water will be needed at the roots. 
There is very little evaporation going 
on and the stock has been so mutilat- 
ed that there is little for its roots to 
do. 

Now this seems an elaborate per- 
formance compared to sticking cut- 
tings in the bed, but it is not. Like all 
new jobs, it may be tedious at first, 
but when once familiar with the opera- 
tion it is quite simple. 

In conclusion I will say that in my 
humble opinion there would be no 
need of this more expensive method of 
renewing our rose stock if we were to 
treat our plants more rationally. I 




to be a good winter bloomer the fate 
of Meteor is sealed, for it is a far bet- 
ter flower, a true Jacqueminot color, 
bright and rich, and it does not have 
the bad fault of Meteor in winter. 
Pei-le des Jardins has no rival in yel- 
low. Sunset, its sport, is a fine orange 
yellow. 

The above will cover 90 per cent of 
all the roses grown for cut flowers, 
hut many fine varieties find favor in 
some localities. Mme. Hoste. Mme. de 
■Watteville. Belle Siebrecht. Mrs. J. 
Pierpont Morgan. Mme. C. Testout. 
Papa Gontier, Mrs. R. Garrett, and 
others, are grown. Several new vari- 
eties are coming out this winter, but 



Display of Tea Roses. 

has commenced, and consequently sap 
rising, prepare for grafting. Choose 
such wood from the roses as you would 
for cuttings, good healthy shoots and 
about as firm as when the bud is de- 
veloped. Th? graft (called scion) 
make three inches long, or a little less, 
with an eye and leaf on top. Cut the 
Manetti stock down to two inches of 
the pot and cut both stock and scion 
obliquely, so that they will about fit 
together. It is not likely that the 
scion will be as thick as the stock, 
which is not of any consequence, but it 
is of utmost importance that one side 
of stock and scion should fit exactly, 
for just below the bark or outer cover- 



am well aware it is not a "new and 
original" idea with me, but I have 
thought of it very much of late and 
can recall a few instances where cir- 
cumstances would lead me to believe 
that we are asking too much of our 
Tea roses. It can't be denied that we 
keep our stock of roses up to concert 
pitch the whole time, perhaps for seven 
or eight years, or until some new vari- 
ety replaces an older one. 

A cutting, as before said in these 
pages, is not a new individual; it is 
merely the perpetuation of the old. 
and without a natural rest it must get 
exhausted. The Tea rose is an ever- 
green, or nearly so, and a continuous 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



199 




House of Tea Ros:s. 



bloomer, or we make it so, but its 
parent or parents had a period of rest 
at some time of tlie year, that is sure. 
But we give none. Our cuttings are 
taken off when the plant is in most 
active growth, the cutting is grown 
along as quickly as possible and made 
into a vigorous young plant, and set 
out in June and forced along in growth 
and it continues to grow until pro- 
pagating time again. Not a day of ac- 
tual rest, and so the cycle revolves, 
but no rest for the roses. Now, the 
instances I remember was, first, a lot 
of young stock coming from a nursery 
firm in Pennsylvania who make a spe- 
cialty of roses. They arrived in April, 
the cuttings had been strong shoots 
taken oft the previous fall and the 
plants had been wintered a little if 
any above freezing. They were what 
we would say of a tramp, "hard look- 
ing citizens." Scrubby looking leaves. 
They were put into 3-inch pots and 
began to grow immediately, and when 
planted out in end of June grew most 
vigorously, far surpassing some much 
better looking plants that had been 
propagated that spring in the usual 
way. Those plants had had a winter's 
rest. 

The other case was on my own 
place. Some plants left over from 
planting in July were knocking about 
the frames the following fall and win- 
ter, and in the spring stood under the 
wall of a shed, and occasionally when 
it rained stood with their pots full of 



water; in fact, abused. Being short 
of fifty plants when planting in Juno 
or July we put in these "runts" and 
they simply started off and grew pro- 
digiously, far outstripping the good 
looking young plants by their side. 

I believe and feel sure that were we 
able to propagate in late spring or 
early fall and winter the plants in a 
very cold house, or in milder parts 
in a cold-frame, and bring them along 
slowly to planting time, we should not 
be obliged to have recourse to the 
fussy job of grafting. 

One word as a final. When you want 
to buy don't send to the man who 
raises hundreds of thousands of young 
plants for sale. Send to the good 
grower of flowers who has a few thou- 
sand surplus of his own stock, and 
never study the price of two cents on 
a plant. It is the height of folly and 
extravagance to buy poor stock. One 
single bud will more than pay for the 
plant. 

r^ SALVIA. 

A large genus of plants of which 
few are used by the florist. S. splen- 
dens is one of our showiest flowering 
plants. There are now several vari- 
eties or forms of it. It is used as a 
mass where brilliant colors are want- 
ed. They are often rather late in 
flowering, especially in wet seasons, 
and should not be planted in too rich 
a soil or you will get a large growth 
with late flowering, so procure a strain 



that grows compact and is early to 
flower. 

Lifted before frost and potted they 
make showy plantrs for a month or 
two, and we often find their flowers 
useful. 

They are easily raised from seed, 
and there is now a hybrid strain that 
contains various colors, and is' said 
to be early and free flowering. 

A few plants lifted, and cut back 
after New Year's, will give you an 
abundance of cuttings that will make 
fine plants for bedding out. The salvia 
is troubled with aphis and if in a 
warm, dry house and not syringed will 
soon become attacked by red spider. 
They should never be kept over .50 
degrees. They grow so fast and strong 
that it is best to put off propagating 
till March. 

S. patens we have not seen gi-own 
here, but in the gardens of Europe it 
is much used. It has very much the 
same habit as splendens, with erect 
spike and the flower is somew^hat 
larger: the color is of the most beau- 
tiful blue of any flower that grows. 
Propagate by cuttings same as S. 
splendens. 

. Salvia officinalis, the variegated 
form of this, the common sage, is used 
in carpet and other flower garden de- 
signs. The coloring is not bright, but 
very pleasing. Lift a few plants when 
the fiower garden is dismantled and 
in January shorten back the shoots. 
You will soon get any amount of cut- 



200 



T^iE FLORISTS' Manual. 



tings that root most easily. And when 
in 2 or 2 1-2-inch pots there is no 
place to malce nios little plants like 
the hotbed. It is almost or quite 
hardy. 

SANTOLINA INCANA. 

This almost hardy little herb is of 
great importance in the flower garden. 
It can be clipped and cut to any form 
or line. To design patterns in carpet 
bedding or as an edging it is invalu- 
able. Its small, dense foliage has a 
grey or frosted appearance. Occasion- 
ally, when covered with snow, it 
comes through ths winter unharmed, 
but such plants would not be useful 
for our flower gardening purposes. 

Lift some plants and pot, or put 
them in a flat in a few inches of soil. 
In February cut off two or three inches 
of the tops and they will send out 
numerous growths that root rapidly. 
This again is a plant that quickly 



thawed in the spring they should be 
lifted and potted, when they will 
make their growth, the appearance of 
which is so useful in hanging baskets 
or veranda boxes. 

Pew plants will stand the hot sun, 
dryness and neglect so well as the 
sedums. For a border or rockery 
there is of course no need of cold- 
frame or pots. They can be divided 
and planted at once in their perma- 
nent position. 

S. speciosum, rose pink, good for 
rockery, border or florist's use; S. 
Sieboldii, pink, very good basket 
plant; S. pulchellum, pink, dwarf, 
fine for borders; S. Rhodiola, pink, 
dwarf, fine for borders; S. ternatum, 
white, vases or baskets; S. kamtscha- 
ticum, yellow, yery fine spscies for 
baskets or rockery; S. Maximowiczii. 
yellow, handsome, fine stems with 
greenish purple leaves. 

There are many species, but the 
above can be relied on as some of the 
best. 



in pairs, charging for boxes or baskets 
and using bell glasses belong to 
another continent and past age. But 
this is about seeds and not cuttings. 

In the article on Asters I give in 
detail a method of sowing them or 
any other seeds of considerable size. 
We are asked repeatedly how deep to 
sow seeds. There is no rule, and out 
of doors in the garden you would 
cover much deeper than you would, in 
the greenhouse. A very good rule 
would be to cover the seeds their own 
thickness, which would be with an 
aster seed just out of sight, and with 
a gloxinia so little that it would be 
impossible to measure it or apply it. 
Still, we are sure that a grain of wheat 
or oats will struggle to the surface 
when buried six inches, and a cabbage 
se-fd will send up its leaves to the 
light when covered an inch. And these 
depths are one hundred times the 
diameters of the seed. 

However, we are not considering the 
seeds in the garden but how to raise 




makes a nice, compact and quick 
growth in a mild hotbed far better 
than on a greenhouse bench. 

SEDUM. 

These pretty little, hardy peren- 
nials are known to all. But a few of 
the species are useful to the florist. 
and they are not cultivated as much 
as they should be. Many of the species 
make good plants for the hardy 
border. Some are the very best of 
rock plants. And a few are valuable 
to the florist for vases and baskets. 

They are of the easiest possible cul- 
ture, thriving in any soil and needing 
little of it. They are propagated from 
seeds, or by pulling the plant to 
pieces and replanting in early spring, 
but for the florist's use are best propa- 
gated bv cuttings in May. If wanted 
in quantity the cuttings can be put 
in the coid-frame in May in the 
ground, and when root&d remove the 
sash and leave the plants to grow all 
summer, protecting them with sash 
in winter. As soon as the ground is 



A Range of Connected Rose Houses. 

SEED SOWING. 

By sowing seed is the only method 
that we can get a new individual. A 
cutting or layer is only a division of 
the plant, and a graft and bud is not 
a new plant, it is still the perpetua- 
tion of the same individual with the 
help of another plant's vigor and 
strength. Still, cuttings are the Only 
way generally, that we can increase 
a hybrid or variety, and far more stock 
is increased by cuttings than by seeds. 

I consider raising plants by seeds 
a far more delicate and particular un- 
dertaking than our usual method with 
the cuttings and propagating bed. And 
just let me say here that within thirty 
or forty years we have wonderfully 
simplified the cutting bed. There may 
be, and is occasionally, the need of a 
closed case or bell glass for propa- 
gating some of the hard wooded plants, 
but I can remember, and sO' can thous- 
ands of gardeners, when verbenas and 
petunias were put under a bell glass. 
Just fancy how we have progressed 
in this line. Selling carnation pjants 



them without failure under glass. The 
great Prof. Lindley in his "Introduc- 
tion to Botany," says; "It is well 
known seeds will not germinate in 
the light." That we know to be per- 
fect nonsense, for we have all seen 
many kinds of seeds grow in the light. 
The old seedsman's way of testing 
seeds was to wrap a piece of wet flan- 
nel round a bottle and sticking the 
seeds in the flannel and keeping the 
bottle full of hot water. Mustard seed 
will grow in the light and so will an 
acorn. 

■With seeds larger than those of the 
aster or verbena there is very little 
need of failure, and no need of cover- 
ing them more than their depth be- 
cause our seedlings are soon to be 
handled. But with begonias, calceo- 
larias, gloxinias and other very min- 
ute seeds the operation is one of great 
care. Mr. Fred L. Atkins gives the 
correct method in an article on glox- 
inias in The Florist's Review, March 
3. 1898, page 569, all of which is ex- 
cellent. 

The soil should be well baked or 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



201 



scalded with boiling water to destroy 
the seeds or spores of any other vege- 
table growth. The pan or pot should 
be filled to within an inch of the fine 
soil with crocks and moss. The sur- 
face should be of sifted soil, which 
should be a soft loam and leaf.-mould. 
The surface should be smooth and 
even, and to thoroughly wet this be- 
fore sowing you should stand the pan 
in water. In a few moments the water 
will soak up to the surface. Then sow 
the seeds. 

You are so liable to sow these seeds 
too thickly that great care must he 
exercised. The smallest pinch between 
your finger and thumb and a very 
slight movement of the same will with 
care drop the seeds equally distribu- 
ted. Then the smallest quantity of 
clean sand distributed over the sur- 
face, not enough to hide the color of 
the soil but just a sprinkle. Then 
press lightly the surface with the bot- 
tom of a clean pot. Let the surface of 
the soil be an inch below the top of 
the pan. 

Mr. Atkins recommends covering 
the surface with green moist moss 
and then over it a sheet of glass. We 
sometimes use a piece of wet cheese 
cloth instead of the moss, which can 
be dampened with the Scollay sprink- 
ler, and as there is so little evapora- 
tion there will be little need of water, 
but the glass and moss, or cloth, 
should be removed once a day to see if 
they are dry in any spot. 

Directly you notice the seeds germin- 
ating remove the covering and tilt up 
one side of the glass, and as the little 
plants get stronger remove the glass 
entirely. The Scollay sprinkler will 
water the surface while the plants are 
very young, and when stronger you 
can dip the pans in water and let it 
quietly run over the surface; that is 
better than a coarser sprinkling. When 
the seeds are well up, and by careful 
handling they should never be allowed 
to draw up, the seed pans should be 
given the fullest light, but never al- 
lowed to get parched by the sun. 

However grown, plants may relish 
to be occasionally on the dry side and 
then soaked. Small seedlings, par- 
ticularly at the critical time of ger- 
mination, should be kept at a uni- 
form moisture. Seed pans can be kept 
in a house 5 or 10 degrees warmer 
than you would grow the plants, but 
as soon as well up should be placed 
In the temperature most suited to the 
plant when growing. 

All seedlings, with hardly an excep- 
tion, should be transplanted into other 
pans or flats as soon as they can be 
handled: particularly is this the case 
with those that you have sown thickly. 
A sudden drying will often wilt and 
destroy many young seedlings, and 
forgetfulness to shade is often disas- 
trous. At the same time it is most es- 
sential that the little plants should 
have the fullest light, for if you start 
off with a drawn, spindling plant you 
have seriously handicapped your fu- 
ture success. 

Now, all the points related above 



are easy to follow, but the great thing 
is to follow them faithfully. A watch- 
maker can throw down his tools and 
leave his watch for a week and re- 
turn and take up his task with the 
loss only of time, but you can't leave 
a week or a day, or hardly an hour. 
It is the care and watchfulness and 
everlasting attention and thoughtful- 
nees that makes the gai-dener, far more 
than scientific action, either mental or 
physical. 

Don't blame the seedsman always. 
I must at the cost of being thought 
egotistical say that for years I never 
blamed a seedsman when perhaps I 
had a reason. I blamed my own 
clumsiness and carelessness. 

The man who has charge of the 
seeds should be given plenty of time, 
for he needs it. 



among foliage plants in a veranda box, 
the branches of this plant often reach- 
ing a height of eighteen inches or 
more. 

S. Martensii is another well-known 
and deserving species, the flat branch- 
lets of which are quite effective among 
the plants in a table fernery. This 
species is very easy to increase by 
means of cuttings, these being potted 
up at once in light sandy soil without 
the preliminary treatment of the cut- 
ting bed, and only require to be kept 
moist and sheltered from too much 
sun and air until they take root. 

This species has also provided us 
with one of the best variegated forms 
found among the selaginellas, namely, 
S. Martensii var., the branchlets of 
which are variably marked with white. 
S. Martensii var. also roots readily 













nBMf^^^^^^lHHGi^^^tt^ 


^'^'^^PBM^^S 


mm ,^ 




IM:;^'^ 4JI 



Selaginella Cuspidata. 



SELAGINELLA. 



Among the large number of species 
(over 300 in all) of the selaginellas 
there are comparatively few that are 
used in the trade, notwithstanding the 
fact that there are several of the spe- 
cies easily procurable and readily 
grown into very attractive pot plants. 
It is true that selaginellas in general 
prefer moisture and shade, and in con- 
sequence are somewhat tender in fo- 
liage, but this rule does not hold good 
in all cases, some of the species bear- 
ing exposure fully as well as many of 
the commercial species of ferns. 

An example of this is found in S. 
Braunii, a Chinese species that has 
been long in cultivation, and that is 
frequently, though incorrectly labelled 
S. Willdenovi. The branches of this 
species are very tough and wiry, the 
leaves small and deep green in color, 
and it not only forms a very pretty 
plant in a 4 or 5-inch pot, but is also 
well adapted for growing into a large 
exhibition specimen, or to be used 



from cuttings, it being necessary, how- 
ever, to select well-variegated pieces 
in order to perpetuate the variegation. 

The freak of variegation is not con- 
fined to S. Martensii, for it also ap- 
pears in the common S. Kraussiana 
var., and also in S. involvens, the lat- 
ter being quite prolific in singular 
forms, 

S. Kraussiana, also known as S. den- 
ticulata, is perhaps the most familiar 
example of this interesting family, 
and is one of the most useful plants 
we have for carpeting the surface of 
the soil beneath other plants, or for 
beautifying otherwise bare spaces be- 
neath the benches of a conservatory. 

S. cuspidata is another useful spe- 
cies, a plant of which is illustrated 
herewith. It will be readily noted that 
this illustration bears some resem- 
blance to S. Emiliana, a variety that 
has been very largely grown for a few 
years past for filling table ferneries, 
and the explanation of this is found 
in the fact that S. EJmiliana is simply 
a form of S. cuspidata. Cuttings of 



IS 



202 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



this species soou take root in sand or 
sandy soil, and become compact, tuft- 
ed little plants in a few months when 
grown in an ordinary fern house. 

S. viticulosa illustrates another form 
of growth that we find in this diverse 
family, this species being better 
adapted for use as a pot plant than 
to be mingled in a fernery, its branch- 
lets being large and standing up like 
the fronds of a fern. These branchlets 
are thrown up from creeping stems, 
and do not root readily, consequently 
the propagation of this plant usually 
depends upon division, or from spores. 
A good idea of this handsome species 
may be had from the accompanying 
photograph. 

S. serpens is a singular member of 
this family that is quite common in 
gardens and forms a dense mat of 
closely rooting branchlets on the sur- 
face of the soil. The great peculiarity 
of this species isi found in its changes 
of color during the day, the foliage be- 
ing bright green in the morning, but 
gradually becomes much paler, as 
though bleached by the light, finally 
resuming its lively green hue at night. 

Of the selaginellas that are especial- 
ly valuable for private collections or 
for exhibition purposes a long list 
might easily be made, and prominent 
among them should be mentioned such 
beautiful species as S. Wallichii, S. 
Vogelii, S. Lyallii, S. Wildenovii, that 
very strong growing scandent species 
with the strong metallic tints on its 
foliage, a species that has been tossed 
about on the waves of nomenclature, 
being sometimes S. caesia arborea, 
again S. laevigata, and finally S. Wil- 
denovii. Also S. haematodes, S. atro- 
virides, and S. rubricaulis, all of which 
are worthy of more extended cultiva- 
tion, though not all are quite so easy 
to manage as the few we have special- 
ly referred to for commercial purposes. 

W. H. T. 

SHADING. 

I have had occasion to nwntion 
shading many times in reference to 
plants that need it under glass. We 
are as yet without any portable shad- 
ing that can be adjusted to our com- 
mercial greenhouses. The wooden slat 
shading applied' to some private con- 
servatories is out of the question for 
the commercial man, and if expense 
did' not forbid, it is too dense. 

Many of our plants that thrive in 
the broad sun will burn up under 
unshaded glass. This last July having 
occasion to remove the glass in a 
house to paint and reglaze, we left 
many plants standing on the benches 
fully exposed to sun and air. Among 
them I noticed Primula obconica and 
P. Forbesii and several kinds of flow- 
ering begonias. Before the glass was 
put on again, perhaps three weeks, the 
plants had made a great improvement 
in their growth, strong and robust. 
If the glass had been on without shad- 
ing it would have been a different 
story. 

We can at least use a light cloth 
on our frames over such plants as 



cyclamen and others that are much 
the best in frames dui'ing summer. 
A stout pole a little longer than the 
width of the frame with cheese cloth 
tacked to it is easily and quickly un- 
rolled or rolled up. 

We frequently are tardy in putting 
on shading and then daub on a heavy 
coat. Put on a thin coat where needed 
and add another when tlie sun is 
stronger, and if you will go to the 
trouble of plunging many of our com- 
mon plants in refuse hops or decayed 
leaves you will find th?ir growth much 
better, and you can delay or dispense 
with shading entirely. 

Supposing you have a house full of 
geraniums or cannas which, as soon 
as sold, say end of May or early June, 
will be filled with chrysanthemums. 
It you shade for these plants you must 



well supplied with its bright red ber- 
ries. Its leaves are bright green, 
holly-like, and the plant has a fine, 
compact habit. Small plants not over 
one foot in height are of most use. 

It can be raised easily from seed or 
cuttings in the usual way, made from 
the young growths in spring. Cut back 
the shoots slightly in February and 
give it a good light house and warmth 
and moisture. After flowering and 
the berries are set they can be plunged 
in a frame out of doors and removed 
to a cool greenhouse before frost. 

S. ohlata is said to be still more 
handsome and needs the same treat- 
ment. 

Any good loam will grow them, and 
except when growing in the spring 
they thrive in a cool house. 



J-- 




Selaginella Viticulosa. 



certainly brus^h it off again for the 
mums for they don't want and must 
not have any shade. Quite as impor- 
tant as putting it on early with such 
plants as palms and ferns is taking 
it off in good time. Begin end of 
August to remove the shade and by 
middle of October have it all oft. 

We are frequently asked what is 
the best material? We have tried 
many mixtures, and best of all like 
naphtha and white lead without any 
oil. We tried common coal oil in- 
stead of naphtha, but it is too greasy. 
Try the mixture before you settle on 
the thickness of it. 

We have also tried applying it with 
a syringe, and are entirely opposed to 
it. It saves labor but you will use 
more material than will twice pay 
■ for the labor, and when put on with 
a long handled brush it is properly 
done. This mixture rubs off easily 
when dry and the hose makes a clean 
job of it. 

SKIMMIA JAPONICA. 
This is a greenhouse shrub from 
Japan and is very ornamental when 



SMIL AX (MYRSIPHYLLUM ASPAR- 
AGOIDES), 

This useful climber and twiner 
seems to have been grown here com- 
mercially long before its great use- 
fulness was appreciated in Europe. 
Though the more graceful looking as- 
paragus has superseded it in our deco- 
rations it is still a standard article 
with all commercial florists, and in fu- 
neral decorations there is no equal to 
it. 

One author says it is propagated 
by "seeds, cuttings and divisions." I 
have never heard of its being rooted 
from cuttings, and to divide it would 
be absurd as it is so easily raised from 
seed. 

Seed should be sown in flats and 
covered an eighth of an inch, in Feb- 
ruary. Good fresh soil is now always 
supplied. When two or three inches 
high pot off into 2-inch pots and 
keep in a temperature anywhere above 
50 degrees. If you expect the best re- 
sults from your n«wly planted bed 
you ought by. middle of May to give 
these little plants another shift into 



The Florists' manual. 



203 



a 3-inch. Getting strong plants to 
plant out in June will give you an 
extra crop over small, weak plants. 
And although you often see them 
standing under a bench in May and 
June that is not the way to produce 
well rooted, strong plants. 

Make your Smilax bed in the center 
of the house on the ground with seven 
or eight feet of head room; and more 
is better. If the floor of the house is 
naturally dry you want no prepara- 
tion, but make the bed seven or eight 
inches above the surface and confined 
with a brick or plank wall. 

I have tried several kinds of soil. 
The worst smilax I ever grew was in 
a light sand, and the best was in a 
stiff loam, such a soil as roses like, 
with the addition of one-fourth of rot- 
ten cow manure. Plant at end of June 
or very early in July. 

If you intend to renew the bed every 
year, which I strongly advocate, then 
plant ten inches between the rows and 
six or seven inches between the plants. 
Run a wire across the bed just be- 
himl the row of plants, and a corre- 
sponding wire near the roof, and at 
each plant run up a string of silkaline. 
It is invisible when cut and saves you 
much bother when using the smilax 
because there is no need of pulling it 
out. 

Keep down weeds from the start 
and frequently teach the little growths 
that they are to climb up the strings. 
When once started they are no trouble, 
and when a crop is cut and a new 
growth is starting replace the strings 
at once. We are guilty of neglect and 
I have seen days of labor spent over 
a smilax bed that was allowed to grow 
without strings a few weeks and had 
to be unravelled and started up the 
strings much to the harm of the 
growths. 

When growing fast smilax likes and 
must have an abundance of water and 
should be daily syringed to keep down 
red spider. It should be also fumiga- 
ted, but not heavily or it will turn the 
tips of the leaves. Vaporizing with 
tobacco extract would avoid that, but 
with proper care we have no trouble 
with the smoke. 

When a crop is fit to cut or your 
business demands that you cut it, be- 
gin at one end and clear it as you go. 
When the plant is denuded of its entire, 
growth, as it is when you cut the 
strings, it does not want water till 
it begins to send up more growth. I 
have seen the roots rotted by a heavy 
watering Just after cutting oft the 
strings, and when the thick, fleshy 
roots rot they raise a bad smell, very 
similar to decayed Solanum tuberosum, 
alias potato. 

When cutting the strings don't let 
a crude hand ruthlessly chop off all 
the growth. There may be several 
strong young shoots a foot or eighteen 
inches high that will quickly make 
another string. 

By planting last of June you ought 
to get four crops before planting time 
again, and will if the temperature of 
the house is kept never less than 60 



degrees at night throughout the win- 
ter, and if it is 65 degrees so much the 
better; contrary to what would be the 
case with most plants the warmer you 
grow it the harder it is providing It is 
matured when cut. Being naturally 
a twiner among trees it likes the 
shade, and is best shaded in summer 
and early spring. 

I am sure it is wisest to plant every 
year. You get more strings; they are 
a more useful size, and easier man- 
aged. After the second crop is cut, 
about New Year's, the bed will be 
greatly benefited by a top dressing of 
an inch of loam and cow manure. 
Their strong asparagus-like crown of 
roots soon works to the surface and 
need this mulching. The smilax is a 
heavy feeder, so a strong soil, plenty 
of water when growing, and a good 
heat, suits it. 

SOILS. 

Although various soils have been 
often alluded to as most suitable for 
different plants I cannot impress on 
you too much the importance of being 
always well supplied with this most 
necessary article of our business. 
We too frequently are careless and 
often falsely economical in not buying 
a good pile of soil. Greenhouse estab- 
lishments in or near cities, or where 
by its growth has surrounded them, 
have often a difficulty in getting a 
good supply, and it is too often a case 
of get what you can. I have learnt 
lately that when a teamster asks, "do 
you want twenty loads of good earth?" 
you had better investigate at once, and 
if it is good buy it; you don't know 
when you will get the next. 

We pay out without a murmur thou- 
sands of dollars for fuel, but squirm a 
good deal over one-quarter the amount 
for soil and manure. And if by these 
words I have made you think seriously 
how important a matter is good soil 
I will have done you some good. 

Those having five or six acres, or 
better, fifteen acres, can help them- 
selves off their own place, and they 
should take care and husband their 
land or they will find that with broad 
acres they can soon use it up and have 
little in the right condition. No one 
nowadays thinks of using soil for roses 
or carnations or violets the second 
year, and these crops take a great deal 
of soil. 

When an acre is what we call 
"skinned," three, four or five inches 
deep, it should be restored as soon as 
possible with the soil that comes out 
of the benches. P<t as much back as 
you took away, and what you put 
back will be good soil, for while in 
use in the greenhouse you added ani- 
mal manure, bone-meal and other fer- 
tilizers. You can grow a crop of pota- 
toes on it the first summer, or use it 
for your planted out crops for a coup'.e 
of years, or better still, after the po- 
tatoes lay it down to winter wheat and 
sow clover in the spring and in two 
years plow the clover under, and you 
have a grand field for your carna- 
tions. 

I have proved within a few years, 



ESTABLISHED 1802 




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SEEDS 



Flower Seeds lor Florists, 

Special Price List ready 1st Jan'y. 



BILBS FOR FORCING, 

Catalogue ready in June. 



Fresh Palm Seeds 

ARRIVE FROM TIME TO TIME. 
Prices on application. 



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36 CORTLANDT STREET. NEW YORK 



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ORTICULTURAL 

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and Autumn Seasons. 
Finest stock from the finest growers. 



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The Weekly 

FLORISTS' 




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204 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



what, not being a farmer I only knew 
by report, that a growth of a foot of 
clover plowed under is a wonderful 
agency in mellowing and fertilizing 
any land unless it be a black muck. 
Farmers consider red clover a foot 
high plowed in for wheat equal to an 
ordinary dressing of farm yard 
manure. Other pieces of your farm 
should be after a year's tillage laid 
down with timothy or red top, and in 
two or three years you have again a 
sod for your roses. Even in country 
villages you cannot always buy good 
soil. The thrifty farmer does not 
want to skin his land at any price, and 
the indigent farmer, who is sure to 
have a good sized mortgage on it, dare 
not or Mr. Mortgageholder will step 
in and forbid, and quite right he 
should. The majority of unthinking 
men are very glad to get the loan 
on their property but when interest 
comes due turn round and abuse the 
loaner for a Shylock. 

There is often a very poor provision 
made for keeping soil over winter. 
Flower growers who have large places 
in the country don't feel this so much, 
but even they need a shed where the 
soil can be hauled under when it is dry 
and in good condition. In the fall it is 
a great help. If taken under cover in 
October and no rain or snow falls on 
it during winter it can be brought in 
even if frozen at any time, and when 
it thaws it will fall to pieces and be 
mellow and be usable in a short time, 
but if in the open and saturated with 
water when frozen and brought in in 
frozen chunks it will be days and per- 
haps weeks before it can be used. How 
long it takes in winter in our sheds to 
dry out. 

The plant man uses the great bulk 
of his soil from March 1st to middle 
of April, and it is very seldom that 
even at the latter late date our outside 
soil heap is dry enough to handle, so 
you should either have a shed with a 
big supply, which can be got at during 
any weather, or else an ample supply 
stored in your potting sheds in fall, 
enough to last you till the first of May. 
We speak from experience and know 
what it is to be running round in April 
for a few loads of soil and offering 
as much for a load as would have pur- 
chased ten in September. I don't like 
soil under the benches if it can be 
helped. 

Soil is much better mixed with 
manure several months before using 
than mixing on the potting bench just 
IjCfore potting. A good pile of soil 
(sod if possible) should be piled up in 
.luly or August with a layer of manure 
every six inches, about a fifth or sixth 
of its bulk, built up square, three or 
four feet high, and then thoroughly 
soaked. And in tour or five weeks 
chopped down and thrown in a long 
ridge to shed the rain. If you have 
time another turn over will be all the 
better and in a dry time in October a 
good supply of this should be stored in 
your potting shed or some place under 
cover. 

I make no pretense to any know- 



ledge of the chemical ingredients of 
soil, and however desirable it would 
be that all gardeners did have that 
knowledge, it is not necessary to a 
practical acquaintance and use of sol's. 
Soils all the world over have very 
much the same properties. 

Broadly, they consist of two kinds, 
that made or deposited from vegetable 
matter, like peat or what you will find 
on the surface of clays a few inches 
of vegetable deposit which is the de- 
posit of centuries of forest leaves; and 
the others, clays and sands or loams, 
is the grinding up of surface rocks 
which have been largely distributed 
and deposited during the glacial 
period. 

Peat, such as you hear of in Europe, 
and especially in Ireland, is largely 
the growth of water mosses, perhaps 
the growth of thousands of years. The 
remains of the moss can be plainly 
seen near the surface, but a few feet 
down it is so decomposed that it is 
not discernible. The German peat 
moss imported largely to this country 
from Silesia for horse bedding is 
sphagnum, hardly old enough to call 
peat, for you can plainly see the re- 
mains of the moss in it. Jadoo is 
simply that with some chemical fer- 
tilizer injected into it. 

Plants of the Heath family like this 
peat because their fine roots work 
easily in it and it retains moisture, 
but it is not always an infallible guide 
that nature can not be improved on, 
and because you find a plant strug- 
gling along in a certain soil in a state 
of nature is no proof that with a 
richer and better soil it will not im- 
prove. 

There are extensive sphagnum bogs 
scattered over this country, and it is 
likely there are some that if drained 
would afford us the same excellent 
material that is found in Europe, and 
notably in Bagshot, Surrey, where the 
rhododendrons are cultivated by the 
hundreds of acres in such excellence 
and profusion. 

The bulb fields of Holland are a 
black peat or muck. Perhaps that 
country and Belgium, called the low 
countries because most parts are many 
feet below the level of the sea, was 
fifty thousand years ago one vast moss 
bog. and most likely it was. for there 
are the remains of ancient primitive 
man who built his hut on stilts and 
lived on the shallow lakes and sub- 
sisted on Crustacea, for there are the 
remains of his kitchen refuse. The 
Hollander and Belgian would not raise 
such crops were he not to saturate the 
soil with manure every third year. 
This peat is useful, and we see by the 
splendid azaleas, etc.. that they grow 
that it suits them, but it is not indis- 
pensable and our most important 
plants can be grown without it. 

Where our soil is sand or clay we do 
not avail ourselves of what we might, 
and that is leaf-mould. Hundreds of 
us see thousands of loads of leaves of 
maple, oak, and elm burnt up every 
autumn when if they were collected 
and mixed or covered with sufficient 



earth or manure to keep them from 
blowing away they would be invalu- 
able for many of our plants. Roses 
and carnations do not need them but 
all our hard wooded plants that like 
peat, and our begonias, fuchsias, ferns, 
in fact any of the soft wooded plants, 
would be benefited by their usie. It 
is a tedious job raking them up. but in 
many of our streets and parks and 
cemeteries they are raked up for you. 
In the country you can alwaysi find 
in some hardwood forest places where 
the wind has laid up for years de- 
posits of these leaves, and you should 
always have a good supply on hand. 

When leaves are collected the same 
fall that they drop it will tak© two 
years before they are fit to use, and 
more than that, unless they get fre- 
quent turning. I would consider a 
heap of maple leaves well rotted by 
frequent turnings and to which had 
been added when first collected a third 
or fourth of their weight of cow 
manure, a regular heap of gold dust 
for adding to your loam for "cycla- 
men, or most any other plant. 

Refuse hops turned frequently make 
a good substitute for leaf-mould, and 
I have even used it on carnation 
benches in the old days of La Purite 
and Edwardsii with the very best re- 
sults. 

We value the hotbeds not only for 
their use in raising plants cheaply and 
well in the spring but the "by- 
product." the old bed put up in a pile 
and the following spring and summer 
turned over and chopped down once 
or twice, makes the most useful in- 
gredient for our potting soil. In fact, 
tor geraniums, coleus, cannas and 
most bedding plants it is all you want 
added to your loam if you are minus 
that good pile that I first spol« of. 

There are great growing qualities 
in clay soils, even in clay taken a foot 
below the surface, as we have often 
seen proved by rose growers, but it 
should, if necessity compels its use, 
be exposed a winter to the frosts, and 
when used must needs have consider- 
able manure to make it mechanically 
right. Clay alone will go down too 
solid and be too retentive of moisture, 
and for our plants in pots would be 
not at all desirable. 

The worst of all soils is a gritty 
sand, and you sometimes find this on 
the surface. Our cuttings grow in 
sand for a short while but soon show 
the need of something better. When 
sampling soil if it feels gritty to the 
hand don't have anything to do with 
it; it is mostly particles of sand what- 
ever its appearance. If a soil feels 
smooth, or as it is technically called, 
"silky," you have the right stuff. 

Som^etimes we have to avail our- 
selves of soil that has been cultivated 
as a garden for years. If you know 
that it has been well supplied with 
manure it will grow most of your 
plants, for it is rich. But there is 
something about sod that has been cut 
a few months that is not equalled by 
any soil that has been tilled, however 
much manure has been used. The 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



205 



roots of the grass keep it open and in 
a good mechanical condition however 
firm you make it, and there may be 
something more; in decaying the roots 
and fibres may emit bacteria that are 
of great usefulness to the roots. As 
we depend on a bacteria to do our 
digesting, and possibly another one to 
do our thinking, it is quite likely that 
in the process of decomposition this 
vegetable matter generates or emits 
a valued species. Certain it is that a 
good fibrous loam is the sheet anchor 
of our soils. More important than any 
fine qualit.v or mixture of soil is to 
have plenty of it available at all times. 
Up to a 3-inch pot you have to sift 
through a half or thwe-quarter inch 
mesh, after that we never sift soils ex- 
cept for seeds. Prom a 3 to a 4-inch 
and upwards we only chop the soil. 
This is most important. Somebody. I 
forget who. cursed the sieve, and he 
was right. Use it as little as possible. 
Chop your soil or break it up with a 
digging fork, but don't sift it. 

SOLANUM. 

This grand genus (for a genus that 
gives us the potato must be grand) 
contains some species that are used as 
ornamental plants. 

I wonder why the universally used 
tuber is called the Irish potato. Per- 
haps it is because its jacket comes off 
so easy when it's hot, or perhaps Sir 
Walter Raleigh first introduced it at 
Cork. If he had overlooked it John 
Smith would have taken it to Europe, 
and if Sir Walter had gons exclusively 
into the potato business on his return 
and not aspired to the hand of old 
Queen Elizabeth he might have saved 
his head. But his head was of little 
consequence to future generations, and 
we have the potato that has sustained 
life among thousands. 

In some rural districts they have po- 
tatoes as a steady diet, mostly with 
salt, and for a change without salt. I 
once took supper with a rural florist 
and the solid edildes consisted solely 
of fried potatoes and a blessing. The 
latter lighter commodity came first, S3 
its inappropriateness was not so ap- 
parent. And with pleasure we lo:k 
back at the evening and hope we may 
never want for a fine dish of potatoes, 
A volume could be written on t' e 
many ways of cooking potatoes in this 
its native land, but at a cheap board- 
ing house of our first experience we 
do not think there was so much vari- 
ation in the method of cooking as in 
the varieties of grease used. 

The Jerusalem cherry. S. Capsicas- 
trum. is very ornamental when well 
grown. Select seeds from a compact 
growing plant, sow in February or 
March in a good heat and grow in 2- 
inch pots till frost is gone. Plant out 
on a light and rather poor soil. You 
don't want a vigorous growth, but 
want a dwarf, compact plant and plen- 
ty of flowers. If the fruit is set before 
you lift them, so much the better. 
They must have no frost. They come 
in finely for the holidays and will do 
in any greenhouse; when well berried 



they are very attractive and sell well, 
and can be sold cheaply, as they have 
occupied room on the benches but a 
short time. Pinch them when first 
planting out and again if they are 
growing straggling. 

STEPHANOTIS FLORIBUNDA. 

This beautiful flower was once much 
used for the choicest bouquets and de- 
signs, but since the advent of the long- 
stemmed flowers there is not the same 
use for it. Its fine, pure white, waxy 
flowers of delicous fragrance commend 
it to all who have a warm house. It 



STEVIA. 

The only species we grow and find 
profitable is what we know as serrati- 
folia, or sweet stevia. It is an easily 
grown plant, but the flower is light 
and feathery, so that we value it high- 
ly at the holidays, and common as it 
may be we should miss it very much. 

After flowering cut down the plants 
to within six inches of the pots and 
stand them in some cool, light house. 
You will get a great many cuttings 
from a few plants. Propagate in Feb- 
ruary or March, and plant out end cf 








Bunch of Stevia. 



is a true climber and should be planted 
out in a well drained border of coarse 
loam, but its roots are best confined so 
that they don't ramble too far. It is 
also grown in large pots and trained to 
a wire frame. Mealy bug is its worst 
enemy, but it will endure any amount 
of syringing. 

A piece of the stem of the previous 
year's growth will root freely, but pro- 
pagation is not of consequence; one or 
two plants is all you want. A plant I 
remember very well was trained along 
the roof of a small propagating house. 
It was in a 12-inch pot, but its roots 
had long ago passed through the pot 
into a bed of coal ashes, and every 
spring it bore hundreds of its lovely 
umbels of flowers. 

That was an object lesson of the 
virtue of coal ashes; but it has been 
long known and frequently demonstrat- 
ed in our houses that coal ashes will 
suit many plants. A neighbor of mine 
uses them entirely in place of sand 
for his propagating houses and suc- 
ceeds quite equal to those using sand. 



May. Any garden soil will do. They 
should be at least two feet apart. Stop 
them frequently till end of August. 

Before any danger of frost lift and 
pot into 6 or 7-inch, but let the plants 
stand outside as long as you can. 
When you have to take them in give 
them the coolest (but light) bench you 
have. You want them at the holidays, 
and if kept light and very cool they 
will be robust and stout and give you 
fine spikes. Never let frost touch 
them, but they will thrive in a very 
low temperature. 

STOCKS. 

The Ten Week stocks arc beautiful 
summer flowers, favorites with all. 
Their cultivation is very simple and 
for sowing seed and after care see As- 
ter. The.v embrace many and varied 
colors, from crimson to purest white. 

We grew for many years a pure 
white train of the Ten Week which 
made a handsome dwarf pot plant, as 
well as being useful for the flowers, 
liut there is not now the same use for 
it. 



206 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 




The Intermediate and East Lothian 
Stock is mucli raised in Europe for 
winter blooming. Sow in August and 
September and as soon as the seed 
leaves are formed put into 2-inch and 
shift on and flower in 5-inch, and if 
wanted for spring use keep in cold- 
frame. 

The Brompton Stock is the most 
handsome of all, and where it does not 
freeze more than 15 degrees in winter 
it is a grand flower. I have seen spikes 
of the Brompton that I am sure were 
more than a foot long and three inches 
in diameter, and in a cottage garden. 
They are a biennial, and if attempted 
here should be sown in August, win- 
tered in a cold-frame and planted out 
in spring. In a more temperate cli- 
mate they should be planted in the 
border in October. 

STORE MANAGEMENT. 

The evolution of the florist's store 
from its beginning, with most of us 
twenty-five years ago and with the 
oldest not more than forty years, is 
remarkable. It has kept pace with the 
enormous increase in the use of floweis 
and perhaps has be?n no little incen- 
tive to our patrons in the laudable lux- 
uury of the use of flowers. 

We can all remember when the 
seedsman in many of our cities com- 
bined cut flowers and plants with his 
business. Now the line is as distinctly 
drawn between the seed store and the 
flower store as between a bank and a 
liarber shop, although I have heard 
with surprise and regret that one of 
our most widely known New York 
wholesale and retail seed, bulb and 
requisite houses has recently opened 



Bed of Ten- Week Stocks. 

a cut flower department. This is to be 
regretted; it is a step towards the de- 
partment store and is to be con- 
demned, in our line particularly and 
on principle generally. We all re- 
member exhibitions called florists' 
stores. 

When the florist first essayed to rent 
a store and make it his exclusive busi- 
ness, the window decorations consisted 
in the main of straw baskets, a stuffed 
dove and some beautiful designs in 
wheat, all suggestive of the inevitable, 
but nothing to gladden the eye or 
heart. The gradual transition to the 
modern, first class store of today would 
bs interesting to note were it any ben- 
efit, and what will be the appearance, 
appointments and tempting luxuries of- 
fered to the public by the florist of a 
future generation would be highly in- 
teresting could we foresee the higher 
development of our busin3ss. Prom a 
basement or a narrow, cheap store the 
florist now demands the best stores iu 
our very best streets. 

Before I attempt to say what a high 
class retail store should be it is quite 
pertinent to mention a few things that 
it should not be. The florists and 
their clerks (or more properly shop- 
men) must have the reputation for 
good temper, civility and a most pa- 
tient and obliging disposition, for the 
florist is asked more questions and 
more little favors than any other class 
of shopkeepers. If a lady faints ia 
the street car she is carried into the 
florist's store. If a glass of water is 
wanted by a temperance man, if your 
neighbor wants to use the telephone, 
if a stranger wants to know where Mr. 
Tile, the hatter, is, or even when one 
lady will meet another, it is all at Mr. 



Bud's, the florist, that they come in. A 
civil, polite answer should be gi'ven to 
all. Perhaps by discreet affability you 
have made a friend. 

You store should never be known as 
a place where other florists congre- 
gate. If they have any business with 
you. let them do it quickly and get out. 
No loungers of any kind, friends of 
your own or of your employees, male 
or female, should be tolerated dur- 
ing business hours. Book agents, and 
what we are fearfully pestered with, 
advertising agents, should receive a 
civil but short answer. Drummers of 
all kinds should be put in a back room 
to wait your convenience, or if that is 
not agreeable to them then told to 
come around, if you need them, after 
business is over. Be sure and avoid 
having a group of three or four grow- 
ers in the rear of your store discuss- 
ing with animation the merits of the 
new carnations. If you are a grower 
yourself break up the meeting by lead- 
ing them around the corner; it is 
cheaper and there they can argue with 
lubricated energy while you step back 
to attend to your business, for in these 
days of keen competition and all try- 
ing to excel, nothing but the closest 
attention to all departments o t your 
business will bring even moderate suc- 
cess. 

To be known as a reliable and 
prompt business man among your pa- 
trons is a blessing. To have the repu- 
tation of a good-natured, jolly fellow 
among your brother florists is a mis- 
fortune. You can be good, you can be 
jolly, even a philanthropist, but in 
self-defense and self-preservation sub- 
ordinate the effervescence of your good 
nature till the appropriate occasions 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL, 




View from the Front. 




View (rom tile Kear. 

A Well Appointed Florist's Store, 



208 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



arrive. Your lady customers notice 
loungers and it maizes an unfavorable 
impression, deeper and more lasting 
than their pleasant features indicate. 

Every wide-awake man will know 
what locality is best suited to his busi- 
ness in his own city. Where business 
men pass to and fro is the best of all 
locations, for with due respect to the 
gentler sex the men are our best cus- 
tomers. The ladies may be the inspira- 
tion by which they buy, but through 
the men come our best sales. They buy 
quicker, larger and want the best re- 
gardless of cost. The fashionable 
shopping district of our cities is the 
place for a florist's store, and I think 
I have seen some cities where with ad- 
vantage a good store could be opened 
a long way from the business center of 
the city but in the residential part of 
the town. 

Yo\ir store should be always clean, 
neat and attractive. Your window is 
the chief advertisement of your busi- 
ness and that should never be two 
days alike. Some men may have a 
large stock of flowers and place a large 
quantity in their window; yet they 
were put in, or rather jammed in, re- 
gardless of color or taste and were no 
attraction to the cultivated taste of 
the passer-by. Y'ou may not be able 
to have 360 varieties in one year, but 
you can always change it sufficiently 
so as to appear to the public fr-?sh and 
new each day. and let there be some 
distinctive feature each day. A very 
first class florist in one of our large 
western cities who keeps six or seven 
yo\ing men in the store allots to each 
one in turn the duty of arranging the 
window display. 

Some may say many flowers can be 
used up and wasted in these window 




Corner in a Florist's Store in November. 



decorations. There need be little waste 
if properly managed, for it is not the 
quantity but the taste displaysd that 
makes an attractive window, and if it 
does cost something in sacrifice of 
flowers it is far cheaper than any othor 
kind of advertising. On a recent win- 
ter visit to Philadelphia, in a fine win- 
dow of the leading florist of Chestnut 
street the window decoration was a 
heavy branch of an elm tree, estend- 




A Florbt's Store at Easter. 



ing the whole width of the window 
and on it at intervals were tied sprays 
of Cattleya Trianae. Thousands weie 
stopping to admire it. This is the 
idea, and whether it be orchids or 
only a vase of coreopsis it should be 
clean, neat, fresh, distinct and a gem 
if possible. 

As in poetry so in flowers; it is not 
volubility that is highly appreciated, it 
is the clear cut gems that immortalize 
their authors. Longfellow's "Villag? 
Blacksmith" is worth a whole library 
of gush and slush which often passes 
for poetry. 

The interior of your store should be 
also attractive. Where a rushing 
business is done there must be some 
little confusion, hut the making up or 
boxing of flowers can be done in the 
rear and not at the counter where saks 
are made. The ice-box is a great fea- 
ture of the present flower store. Next 
to the window it is the principal at- 
traction and should not be in a remote 
corner but should be conspicuous to 
every one who enters the store. If a 
man enters the store to purchase a 
.5-cent carnation for his buttonhole he 
may be attracted by the beautiful 
flowers in the glass case, and if they 
have not tempted him sufficiently to 
affect his pocket they have made a 
favorable impression, and it is by a 
succession of favorable impressions 
followed by good and prompt service 
that fortunes are made, not by sudden 
leaps into popularity. 

The salesmen, and sometimes they 
are women, should be as neat, clean 
and. if possible, as attractive as their 
surroundings. The young men should 
neither chew tobacco nor the girls 
gum, eat onions, drink beer or any- 
thing stronger during business hours. 



The FLORISTS' MAlNfUAL. 



209 



The ability or genius to make a sales- 
man is a gift with birth. Ability cau 
be greatly improved by study and ex- 
perience and an earnest endeavor to 
reach the ideal, but a thoroughly ac- 
complished salesman is as much a 
genius as a great painter or sculptor. 

I am by no means one of those who 
believe that genius is the steady ap- 
plication and industry devoted to a 
certain object. Such is ths definition 
liy some modern philosopher (Carlyle, 
I think) of genius. My humble opin- 
ion is that genius is inherited from an 
ancestor or ancestors, immediate or re- 
mote, and improved and glorified by 
the chance of environment. So if you 
have not the gifts that make a good 
salesman seek other departments of 
the liusiness. If a man has no faculty 
behind the counter he may be a good 
decorator, or in the packing and dis- 
patch of orders he may show great ex- 
ecutive ability. 

A little book was handed me many 
years ago by my brother. Its title 
was, "How to Make Money and How 
to Keep It." As the book came from 
a fine public lil)rary I devoured it with 
eagerness, confident I had struck a 
jewel. The first part of the book was 
devoted to advice in the various mer- 





Two Views in a Florist's Store. 



cantile walks of life and every chap- 
ter finished off strongly and impressed 
on the reader "to be polite." Over 
and over again was the simple instruc- 
tion. "Be polite." The latter part of 
the book could be summed up in a 
few words, which are simply this: 
After you have acquired a competence 
in some pursuit you understand, don't 
go into a business or enterprise you do 
not understand. 
Undoubtedly politeness is a greai 



factor to success, and cannot possib'.y 
be out of place with every class of your 
customers. The quantity and quality 
of the affability shown your customer.^ 
is pui'e tact, and too much suavity in- 
discreetly applied is as bad as none at 
all. This is the part of the salesman's 
ability that is a natural gift and so 
hard to acquire. The hurried man of 
business, often our most liberal buyers, 
wants no superfluous chat of any kind. 
Neither does the aristocratic lady who 



forgets her grandfather carried a hod. 
The motherly matron may want to 
tell you about her sick husband or her 
injured limb caused by the runaway 
of her team. For her you have an at- 
tentive ear and sympathy, and so you 
should for the worthy but poor people 
who want some flowers for a bereave- 
ment. To accommodate them with 
their wants to match their purse is 
tact. We can no more have all pleas- 
ant people to purchase our goods than 
we can expect all church members to 
be virtuous people. We must adapt 
ourselves to our customers' tempera- 
ment as far as possible without losing 
self-respect. This is not hypocrisy, 
it is fitting ourselves to the require- 
ments of our business. 

All articles should be just what they 
are represented or promised. A bunch 
of roses that will fall to pieces when 
taken from the box. violets that have 
been twenty-four hours' in the ice-box, 
or carnations about to close their pet- 
als in slumber, will be very disappoint- 
ing and leave with your patron an 
impression that takes a lot of good be- 
havior to efface. 

There are too many retailers that 
have only one price, and supposedly 
only one quality of flowers. If you are 
only going to keep one quality then it 
should be the best, and some very high 
class stores may find it unprofitable 
to do otherwise, but the great major- 
ity of florists have, and want to have, 
several grades of flowers in the lead- 
ing articles. Take carnations, for in- 
stance, we have been too much on the 
one price system. "What do you cliarga 
for your carnations?" "Fifty cents a 
dozen," or some price, according to 
season, is the same old answer. It 
should be more in this style: "These 
are Sl.oO per dozen, these $1.00, these 
75 cents, and we have some not so fine 



210 



The FlORiSTS' Manual. 



worth 50 cents." The same with- roses 
and violets and all other flowers. It is 
the same witli all other businesses, 
and why not with ours, where quality 
varies so greatly? 

The most important feature in our 
business next to quality of goods and 
polite attention to customers, is 
promptness. Many an elderly man is 
worrying to get his orders off prompt- 
ly on the time promised and agreed for 
their delivery, while his shopmen are 
lolling around with the serene manner 
and thought that the old man need not 
fret himself, the wedding is not till .7 
o'clock, or the party till 3 p. m., or the 
funeral till tomorrow. When these 
events occur is no business of yours; 
you have promised the order at a cer- 
tain hour and you should never fail to 
keep your promise. There may be sev- 
eral reasons why the order was wanted 
at a certain hour, of which you were 
entirely unaware. No part of the busi- 
ness is more important than prompt- 
ness, and in no nart do I notice a 
greater inclination to ignore it. A 
reputation for a late and disappointing 
delivery is a deplorable handicap to 
success. 

Finally the three great requisites lo 
success are to keep and supply a good 
article, be prompt and deliver all or- 
ders how, when and where you prom- 
ised, and treat your customers with 
polite deference and respect. If yovi 
are asked for an article which you d:i 



one grown by the commercial florist. 
The young shoots root readily in an 
ordinary propagating bed. They grow 
quickly and if given much root room 
will not flower for a long time. They 
are hardly of consequence enough to 



SWEET PEAS. 

Of late years the greatly improved 
varieties and beautiful colors of the 
sweet peas have brought them up to 
be one of our most important spring 





Two Views of a Store Interior. 



not have, procure it if possible to 
olilige, but never promise what you are 
afraid you cannot supply. You will 
never seriously offend a customer by 
declining an order, but you will have 
given great offense by promising and 
not fulfilling. 

SWAINSONA GALEGIFOLIA. 

There are red, pink and white forms 
of this plant and the latter is the only 



occupy bench room, but where you 
have a chance to plant them out in a 
box or confined space at the end of a 
house the flowers will be at times very 
useful. 

Pot very firmly in some good, coarse 
sod. They can be thinned out and cut 
back in the spring. A carnation house 
temperature will suit them very well. 
I know of no use that we can make of 
them as small plants. 



flowers. And what can be more truly 
springlike, for these you cannot have 
any day in the year as we do now have 
many of our other flowers. Early 
April is as soon as sweet peas are seen 
in any quantity, and they are then a 
luxury, but middle to end of June they 
are everybody's flower, and as long 
as they last are favorites with all. We 
have seen cool, moist summers when 
the peas lasted till cut off liy frost, but 
usually our hot, dry August winds 
them up. 

For forcing under glass they can be 
sown in early September. If you de- 
vote a whole bench to them the rows 
ought to run north and south and be 
2 feet 6 inches apart. Sow thinly and 
support with chicken netting. My ex- 
perience is that in a solid, deep bed 
under glass they grow too strong and 
do not flower freely, so I would rather 
give them six inches of soil, rather 
heavy and firm, with little if any ma- 
nure. The first bed we tried under 
glass in a fine, light house was a fail- 
ure because the roots had too much 
room and too good a soil. 

We sow a few seeds by the iron sup- 
ports in our carnation houses on the 
north side of a middle bench. They 



LONG'S 

FI.OBISTS' FHOTOOBAPHS. 

7I.ORAI. ART CATAI.OGUE. 

Blank Order Sheets, Stationery, 
Stock Booklets and Folders, 
Florists' Printing to order. Lists and Samples free. 
Write to DAN'L B. LONG, Publisher, Buffalo, N.Y. 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



2n 




Interior and Exterior Views of a New York Store. 



212 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



take up little room till February and 
as they grow the light is growing 
stronger every day. They certainly do 
impair the growth of one or two car- 
nation plants, but you will get ten 
times the money from these sweet 
peas that you would from the plant or 
two of carnations. Two or three 



rows. It will help keep the ground moist 
and be of the greatest benefit whf?u 
you water. Unless we get a rainy sea- 
son you must water. Give the ground 
not only close to the plants but all the 
surface a thorough soaking twice a 
wo?k if you want your crop to last. An- 
other important thing to observe is to 




days is of great importance in the 
sweet pea market in spring. 

Within a few years the varieties of 
sweet peas have become very numer- 
ous, and many of them of great beauty. 
Mr. Eckford has been largely instru- 
mental in this. Mr. Eckford first bs- 
came an enthusiast on the verbena 
and later turned his attention to sweet 
peas. Mr. E. has probably never heard 
of the writer, but when I was 10 years 
old I knew him, when he first went 
to be head gardener to Dr. Martin, of 
Purbrook, Hants, England. Dr. Mar- 
tin was one of the pioneers of dentist- 
ry, who charged $10 to look in your 
moutii, $10 more to pull a toothy and 
$50 more for a new one. But as he 
spent his leisure time and moni3y in 
gardening his extravagant charges 
were most commendable. 

Some of the finest sweet peas are a.s 
follows: Mrs. J. Chamberlain, white 
stripsd rose; Lovely, beautiful pink; 
America, white striped red; Stanley, 
deep maroon: Raraona, pale pink; 
Maid of Honor, white tipped lilac; 
Golden Gleam, primrose yellow: Mars, 
bright crimson; Countess of Radnor 
Improved, fine lavender; Royal Rose, 
very fine rose; Lady Penzance, orange 
tinted carmine: Blanche Ferry, extra, 
white and pink; Blanche Burpee, best 
white; Catherine Tracy, daybreak 



strings are run up by the side of the 
post for the peas to climb on, and an 
occasional tie is needed to keep them 
within bounds. Two strong plants are 
plenty at each post, but sow enough 
seed so that you can thin out. If not 
convenient to sow the seed on the bed 
then sow in 3-inch pots and later trans- 
plant. They do not make much growth 
in the dark days of winter, and 50 de- 
grees is about as high as they should 
be kept in winter. 

For outside they should be the very 
first thing sown in the spring, the mo- 
ment the ground is dry enough to plow 
or spade, or better still, it can be dug 
up rough in the fall, and will need no 
digging in the spring. Draw tr?nches 
three or four inches broad and the 
same in depth, three feet apart, sow 
thinly and cover with an inch of soil. 
If you think it's going to be dry pour 
some water on top of the seed before 
you covar in with earth; it will hasten 
the growth. At the first hoeing you 
can let the earth be drawn in a little 
higher around the stems, but if the 
trench is somewhat l)elow the lev^l all 
the better for future waterings. 

The soil for peas out of doors should 
be deep and rich. There is nothing 
equal to brush to support them, which 
should always be placed with a line of 
it on each side, when the growth is 
only two or three inches high, not 
waiting till the peas are up a foot and 
have fallen over to one side. We 
don't suffer with drought usually up 
to fiowering time, but a short whils be- 
fore you begin to pick you should 
spread 2 or 3 inches of stable litter en- 
tirely over the ground between the 




Some New York Stores at Christmas. 



pick all the fiowers. If they escape 
you they will quickly go to seed and 
then your plant gets exha\isted. 

Some growers sow in October and by 
this means I have seen flowers picked 
ten days earlier than those sown on 
the same ground in April. You must 
judge for yourself the best week to 
sow, according to the weather. You 
don't want them to make any growth 
above the ground, just sprouting near 
the surface is enough, but sow four 
inches deep. For this purpose choose 
a rather high part of your ground 
where surface water will not lie. Ten 



pink; Little Dorrit, fine pink; Aurora, 
striped orange and white; Her Majes- 
ty, rose and carmine: Gray Friar, white 
clouded with lilac; Emily Henderson, 
a standard white; King of the Blues, a 
handsome purplish blue. 

Perhaps many of these fine varieties 
will soon be superseded. It would be 
inadvisable to grow too many kinds 
under glass, and less will do. If limited 
to five kinds I would say the best for 
forcing are: Emily Henderson, white; 
Blanche Ferry, pink and white; Count- 
ess of Radnor, lavender; Golden Gleam, 
yellow; Catherine Tracy, light pink. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



2i3 





Some New York Stores at Christmas. 



SYSTEM. 

This is a plant that wants cultivat- 
ing in a good many smaller establish- 
ments, and its introduction into some 
large ones would not be amiss. 

I think it is a great advantage to 
a gardener when he has been educated 
where neatness and cleanliness were 
strictly enforced, even if it were a pri- 
vate garden. The worst cases of disor- 
der we see are where a man has left 
the shoemaker's bench or the machine 
shop or the ofBce, and we have even 
known where they have left the pulpit 
for the pulpit's good and m.^ide horri- 
bly bad florists. When a young man i.^ 
wavering between the church and the 
greenhouse always take to the church. 



There is less dirt and more spirtuality 
about the church, and you would not 
be always thinking about what you 
might have been if you became a flor- 
ist. While looking for your salary In 
the church will always prevent your 
pining after the greenhouse. 

I must admit though that there are 
instances in this country of young men 
total strangers to the business who 
have entered it and made a marked 
success of it, setting us all a bright ex- 
ample by their systematic manage- 
ment and orderly and business-like 
methods. Their places are models of 
neatness. But they are the great ex- 
ception and those I refer to are bright, 
intelligent men whom nature blessed 



with brains, and they would shine in 
any business. 

If order is the first law of nature, it 
ought most assuredly to be carried 
into the greenhouse, for outs are most 
perishable goods and disorder is not 
only unsightly but a great pecuniary 
loss. These remarks are not intended 
for the bright, well trained greenhouse 
man, for he knows the value of order 
and system, but there are hundreds 
who keep their places in a dirty mud- 
dle from one year's end to the other. 
I have no patience with the man who 
lets his place get fearfully untidy and 
dirty and then has a grand clean up. 
People will form an impression of 
your place as they usually see it and 
perhaps won't see it just aftsr you have 
had the great house cleaning. 

Untidiness is not accident or press 
of business, it is pure carelessness. 
Fifty dead or cut down plants standing 
on the edge of tha path is too much 
for you to carry back to the shed at 
one time, but if the workman who put 
the first one or half dozen there had 
carried them back and dumped them 
and put the pots away then? would 
have been none there. Untidiness does 
not arise from want of time, not in the 
least; it is solely the habit of not put- 
ting things in their right places at the 
right time. Some men don't know the 
difference between a heap of old soil 
that is sure to come in handy for some 
purpose and a heap composed of bro- 
ken glass, wood, old plants and dead 
cats. It's all alike to them, and is 
thrown out with the indifference that 
you see the refuse of the tenement 
house go out of the back window. 

How much time is lost in the mislay- 
ing of tools, or worse still, loaning 
them. Neither borrow nor loan tools 
unless it be something like a steam- 
roller that you are not warranted in 
buying. Borrow nor loan no tools. 
They are far worse in the country at 
borrowing than in the cities; and they 
don't say, "Could I have the loan of 
your post auger?" but "I come up for 
that post auger I saw you use t'other 
day." Another sample of waste of 
time is when Jack says, "Where's the 
monkey wrench, Bill?" Bill says, "I 
guess you'll find it in the stoke hole. 
Bob was fixin' the boiler yesterday." 
And so it goes. 

Keap your tools where they belong. 
Keep your flats piled up neatly. Let 
your sash be in use or properly stood 
up against a wall or fence. Let your 
compost piles be neat and in order. 
Have a proper place for your watering 
cans. And above all have your pots al- 
ways in their sizes in neat rows, not 
under a bench in many different sizes 
all mixed up. Some men like to buy 
pots before they have half used up 
what they already have. 

Here is a sample where disorder 
comes in. The driver from a store or 
the delivery man brings home an aza- 
lea out of bloom and two or three 
other flowering plants that are past, 
or perhaps a fiat half full of gera- 
niums that were not used at the fiower 
gardening job. He jumps off the wag- 
on, slings the flat and its contents on 



214 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



the ground by the shed wall, and then 
asks for another job. The n?xt man 
that wants a flat in a hurry throws out 
the plants and runs off on his errand. 
A pot or two is broken, or the plants 
are run over, all because the driver did 
not take a minute's time to dump the 
useless plant and put the oth?rs in the 
shed where they would be attended to. 



are not quite good enough or not in 
flower don't leave them standing out 
alone to dry out; bunch them up with 
the lot. Your precious tinne will not 
be missed, for it will only lake a sec- 
ond and will be better for the plants, 
better in appearance, and much better 
for the man who waters. And so with 
all your plants. 




running a greenhouse, but do let it be 
clean, neat and orderly, and it will 
cover many other deficiencies. Never 
scruple or sigh at having to throw 
away any plants that you see there is 
no sale for. If you made a mistake 
the quickest way to recover is to out 
with them. The ability to discard use- 
less stock is only second to the abil- 
ity to grow good plants. 

Having everything in at the right 
time it is wanted is one of the great- 
est accomplishments of a good florist, 
and next is having your stock well 
balanced, not propagating or growing 
twice as much as you can dispose of 
of any article. You have your past 
experience to guide you and should 
know the probable demand for tho 
next. You can't grow everything and 
what you don't succeed with, buy if 
you must have It. The man who tries 
to grow everything he is asked for 
will never succeed. 

You must never b? bothered with the 
best of meaning people who bring you 
seeds or plants for you to grow be- 
cause they are curiosities, and Gen. 
Candl)eef sent the seeds to her from 
Cuba, or Lieut. Floater brought them 
from Manila. The plants of the whole 
world are pretty well known now and 
they will be nothing desirable for you. 
Tell the kind person that you are 
afraid they would not get attention 
among your men, who only have a 
knowledge of common commercial 
plants, but you are sure Mr. Private 
Gardener, your neighbor, or the Bot- 



AU that may be a trifle, but a lot of 
such performances creates great con- 
fusion. You can do your work quick- 
er, better, and feel more comfortable 
and happy all around when things are 
in order. And depend upon it orderly 
places are the prosperous ones. 

In the greenhouse among the plants 
is still more need of system and order. 
The old-fashioned way of years ago of 
having a bench all mixed up with flfty 
species of plants like a fourth class 
botanic garden is played out. We 
knew greenhouses, some not so long 
ago, that always looked alike the year 
round. A cactus and sanchezia and Be- 
gonia Rex and Hoya carnosa beautiful- 
ly (?) arranged. A show house is all 
right, where a few of the brightest 
and best of all you have should be 
shown off, and that should be changed 
as often as possible. Let your show 
house undergo a transformation scene 
very frequently, as your store window 
does daily. 

In other houses everything should be 
in blocks. They are better cared for 
in every way and look better; it is the 
only way. Stand over your plants fre- 
quently, small, fast growing plants es- 
pecially, and it is much easier to throw 
your leaves and rubbish into a bushel 
basket than it is to throw them on 
the path and then have to sweep them 
up. 

We frequently have hot words in the 
spring with the men when picking out 
plants or filling orders. If a hundred 
geraniums are wanted of one kind take 
them as they come. If two or three 




'Views in Two Stores. 



Stand all rows of plants straight 
across the bench, and neVer crowd for 
want of room, nor spread them out for 
appearance sake. There is a right dis- 
tance for the plants and they should 
have it, neither more nor less. 



anic Gardens would be delighted with 
them. 

Division of labor is a great thing. 
The operations in a greenhouse are 
very diverse. Put men at what they 
can do well and quickly. And there is 



I cannot mention all the details of no labor, either in potting, watering, 



The FLORISTS' Manual 



2i5 




Window Display Symbolizing the Pan-American Exposition. 



tying or setting over plants, but what 
sliould be done quickly and with a 
rush. When men get accustomed to 
work quickly at these light jobs it is 
no effort to keep it up and it must be 
done quickly or it won't pay. When 
you set a man to turn over fifty loads 
of earth don't expect big shovels and 
quick work all the time. Have mercy; 
you shoveled once yourself and may 
again. 

THUNBERGIA ALATA. 

There are few prettier basket plants 
than the above, and its variety T. 
aurantiaca. Their flower resembles a 
miniature convolvulus. They are an- 
nuals and easily raised from seed sown 
in March. Being true climbers they 
are most suitable for our hanging 
baskets. 

Sow the seed, which is quite large, in 
light soil and keep in good heat. When 
well up pot into 2%-inch pots; why I 
say 2%-inch is to give them room to 
grow, for if stunted early they soon 
get infested with red spider, in fact 
they are very badly addicted to it, and 
that is their chief defect. 



When put into a basket they grow 
quickly and soon wind up the wires or 
hang over the sides. They should not 
be at a lower temperature than 60 de- 
grees at any time, and are not suited 
for a basket in a windy situation. 

TORENIA. 

These pretty plants are grown for 
conservatory decoration, T. Fournierii 
being one of the prettiest species, but 
would not be a florist's flower. T. asi- 
atica is often used with us as a bed- 
ding plant, being a fine plant for an 
edging. Its blue and violet flowers are 
very pretty and a change from the 
prevalent reds of our flower gardens. 

It can be raised from seed sown in 
February and afterwards grown on in 
flats or put into small pots and plant- 
ed out when settled warm weather ar- 
rives. 

It can also be carried over winter by 
putting in cuttings in August and fur- 
ther propagated during winter ami 
spring. Any good ordinary soil will 
grow it. Fumigate, for it is troubled 
with greenfly and it requires a high 
temperature at all times. In the 



flower garden it should have a rich 
soil, and it thrives well in partial 
shade. 

TROPAEOLUM (NASTURTIUM). 

This useful genus is very familiar 
to all. The tall nasturtium is one of 
the best plants for covering fences or 
walls when given some strings or 
brush to climb on. The dwarf nastur- 
tium is used as a bedding plant and in 
mixed borders its round, compact 
clumps have a fine appearance. They 
are always treated as annuals and al- 
though growing most freely in our 
summers they will not endure the 
slightest frost. 

The dwarf varieties of the nastur- 
tium are not always a success as a 
bedding plant because they are planted 
in too rich a soil and the leaves hide 
the flower-s. Plant in rather poor soil 
in the full sun, and you will have bet- 
ter results. The double forms of the 
nasturtium were formerly used as a 
bedding plant, but we have many bet- 
ter plants for the purpose. A dark scar- 
let variety of the tall form is often 
grown in an 8 or 10-inch pot and 



216 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



trained up a rafter where it will give 
mahy flowers in any greenhouse where 
the temperature is not under 50 de- 
grees. 

Both the tall and dwarf forms are too 
easily raised from seed for us to think 
of them as bedding plants, but as a 
plant for our veranda boxes they are 
of consequence, their fine, bright green 
leaves and showy flowers being always 
liked by our patrons and soon filling 
up and making a fine show. We never 
remember having any left when trade 
was over by middle of June. 

Obtain the best strain you can of 



strain for bedding you can buy any 
variety true to color and some of the 
foliage of these is very distinct. 

Varieties of T. Lobbianum grow a=; 
finely as the common nasturtium. The 
foliage is somewhat smaller, but they 
flower in gi'eat profusion. 

TUBEROSE (POLIANTHES TUBE- 
ROSA). 

We can remember in another coun- 
try when, if asked to deliver a dozen 
tuberose bulbs to a customer, they 
were as much trouble to procure as it 




A Florist's Uniformed Driver and Messengers. 



the tall growing kinds, and sow middle 
of March, As soon as they have formed 
their seed leaves pot into 2%-inch and 
keep them in a temperature of 50 da- 
grees. They will grow very fast and in 
any soil. If grown on the bench they 
will quickly become unmanageable, so 
we put them on a hanging shelf where 
they will get air and light and occa- 
sionally short of water, which does not 
hurt them at all. but induces them to 
fiower. Their roots when put into the 
basket or vase have not much room to 
spread and they flower freely. 

There are many named varieties of 
the tall growing nasturtiums, but we 
find a good mixture answers every 
purpose. In the dwarf or Tom Thumb 



would be now to get a young kangaroo 
from Tasmania. And we can also re- 
member when they were used here 
with us to such an extent that the peo- 
ple utterly tired of them, or fashion 
said so. Twenty-five years ago they 
were a flower of the first importance. 
But how have the mighty fallen! To 
put in cheap cut flowers is about all 
you can do with them. Nevertheless 
it is a beautiful sweet flower. 

The bulbs are now offered so cheap- 
ly that the cost is of no consideration 
if you have the room to grow them. 
The raising of bulbs is done by plant- 
ing the young offshoots in the spring 
in good, rich land and in favorable 
seasons they will make a flowering 
bulb by the following fall. But that 



better be left to those who have a suit- 
able soil, a genial climate and cheap 
help, although as far north as Ohio 
good bulbs are raised. 

Tuberose bulbs should never be sent 
by rail during a cold spell. A slight 
frost will destroy them and a low tem- 
perature for a few days will much in- 
jure them. When unpacked keep them 
in fiats in a shed which is never below 
50 degrees. We pull off all offshoots 
and scrape off all signs of any side 
growth and cut square off the hard root 
growth below the bulb. Fill some 
flats, such flats as we use for tulips, 
with a mixture of sand and loam, about 
half and half, and plant the bulbs about 
two inches apart, putting bottom of 
biilb an inch into the soil. If kept 
moist with the flats placed on or just 
over some hot water pipes growth will 
soon begin and in two or three weeks 
we pot them into 4-inch and place them 
in a mild hot-bed. This gives us good, 
strong plants by starting them in 
March to sell at bedding time. 

For your own use you can start them 
still later in the same way. Where you 
have good light, warm soil you can 
plant them out, but they come cleaner 
and finer when grown in pots under 
glass, and you have usually plenty of 
bench room in the summer months. 
They make many roots and when 
growing want lots of water. 

The spikes are now sold very cheap- 
ly, but you should always raise a thou- 
sand or more, for you can raise them 
very cheaply and although there is or 
was a foolish prejudice against them 
they are a sweet and most beautiful 
flower and will come very useful on 
many occasions. 

VALLOTA PURPUREA. 

This is generally called amaryllis. 
but is botanically a genus of its own, 
and one of the most beatuiful of its 
class. Having seen some plants of 
these very recently grown in 8-in. pots 
with nine to twelve spikes and thirty 
flowers, under the care of a matron 
who had nothing but a cottage win- 
dow, it seems worthy of some notice. 
It flowers during summer. 

Three bulbs in an S-inch pot will 
make a fine display when they are well 
established. Dry bulbs can be bought 
in the spring, but it should be treated 
as an evergreen bulb, and during win- 
ter they should be kept cool with less 
water, but not dust dry or be disturbed. 
Plant the bulbs tour inches below the 
surface. They may not flower the first 
year, but will in a year or two get well 
established, and in June or July send 
up a number of spikes with their 
handsome red and pink flowers. 

V. purpurea is the species, and V. p. 
fximia is a grand variety. To grow 
them well they should be given a cool 
but light bench in winter and be kept 
moderately dry. In May when they 
begin to grow give them plenty of 
water. Drain the pot when starting 
new bulbs, and use good fibrous loam 
with a fourth of decayed manure. 



The Rorists' Manual 



2J7 




A Corner in a Florist's Store. 



VASES. 



The florist adjacent to or in a town 
or city and who does a general retail 
business will have many vases to fill, 
and if his establishment is near a lead- 
ing cemetery it will be one of the prin- 
cipal features of his trade. I know 
several who consider it their most im- 
portant business. 

Filling vases for cemeteries in some 
cities is at a price very close t(j any 
profitable margin, and if one or two 
set the price low the rest have to fol- 
low, for few people will pay more than 
their neighbor does. In some cemeter- 
ies the florist agrees to fill and water 
the vase for the season, and although 
the price charged for the watering, 
$2.00 to $2.50, for watering a vase from 
June 1st to the time frost kills the 
plants, does not seem much to charge 
it is by far the most profitable part of 
the business if you have two or three 
hundred of them. 

I know some florists who have al- 
most a "corner" on certain cemeteries, 
and there they charge a good price for 
filling, including a coat of paint. We 
are so situated we cannot do that. We 
charge 50 cents for one coat of paint 
and 75 cents for two coats. 

Our best cemeteries are now kept in 
the most perfect shape, walks, drives 
and grass kept as trim as in the private 
grounds of the wealthy, and with shade 
trees scattered here and there in judi- 
cious groupings, the pleasant surround- 
ings marred only by the over-use of 
monuments and statuary which in their 



glaring whiteness dispel at once any 
comfortable or cheerful feeling that 
might otherwise be associated with a 
cemetery. And the innumerable white 
iron vases only still further add to the 
cold dismalness of the scene. Why 
should it be so? 

Some day a better and more ad- 
vanced idea of our final resting place 
will be shown by subduing the osten- 
tatious display of wealth and marble. 
Graves will be leveled and a small 
marker will denote the spot where the 
departed lies, and the whole cemetery 
will be a beautiful garden with its 
necessary features reduced to incon- 
spicuousness. Monuments are not by 
their size and cost the slightest indi- 
cation of the worth or genius of the 
person gone before. The most common- 
place man lies at the foot of an impos- 
ing column, while the remains of a 
President of the United States rests 
near a humble stone. But this lavish 
display is good in one way, it distrib- 
utes wealth and the greatest good a 
wealthy man can do with his money 
is to spend it. Work is the best of all 
charities. We can help some by telling 
our customers to have their iron vases 
painted dark green or drab; a few are, 
laut not enough. 

Most of our vases, whether for the 
grounds or cemeteries, are iron, stone, 
or rustic wood work. The stone vases 
are usually large, are costly but much 
superior to any in appearance. I have 
never noticed any difference in the 
health of the plants in either of these 



styles. Sometimes the handsome, 
massive stone vases are left without 
any outlet for the water to escape; al- 
ways see tO' that if you are consulted. 
If a long dry spell occurs they do very 
well, but if we get a week's rain in 
July the consequence is disastrous. 

The wooden vases, or baskets as they 
should be called, are lined with green 
moss, before the soil is filled in. Plants 
always do well in them but as the 
drainage is most perfect they take an 
awful lot of water in August and Sep- 
tember to keep them green. 

Plants do excellently in iron vases. 
The great majority of the iron vases 
are now what is called of the reservoir 
pattern. There is an iron basin which 
holds three inches of water immediate- 
ly below the roots separated from the 
earth by the casting but connected with 
the water in the center by a funnel of 
two inches in diameter which dips into 
the water and which we fill with sphag- 
num. The inventor meant it to be 
filled with a sponge so that the soil 
would be always soaking up the water 
by capillary attraction. This also 
works well in dry seasons but in wet 
times when the reservoir is always 
full the soil gets saturated and the 
plants die, and we frequently have to 
lift off the top of the vase and empty 
out the reservoir. This is a case of 
sub-watering to excess. I prefer the 
vases without reservoir. They look all 
right on theory but in practice are 
often more harm than good. 

When the frosts have killed the 
plants in the vases we empty them. 
The wooden baskets are stored in our 
sheds. The tops of the iron vases are 
turned upside down and the soil taken 
out of the stone vases, or as is often 
done with the large vases we fill them 
with some neat evergreens for the 
winter; the Chinese arbor vitae and 
retinospora are good for the purpose. 
We make no charge for emptying the 
vases. They are mostly steady custom- 
ers and if they are not we do it for 
our satisfaction, for what would look 
worse than withered plants where all 
else was neat and trim. It is no longer 
as it was when Gray wrote: 

Perhaps in this negrlected spot is laid 
Some heart once pregnant with celes- 
tial fire; 
Hands that the rod ot empire might 
ha\^ swayed, 
Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre. 

All now is neat and cared for. Even 
rural cemeteries are now well kept. 
Before I leave the precincts of what 
should be a most pleasant and beauti- 
ful spot, and as far as care goes is, 
I must say that the abolishing of 
fences and the care and control of the 
whole grounds by the cemetery authori- 
ties, who treat all alike and study gen- 
eral appearance and not individual, is 
a vast improvement over those ceme- 
teries where the lot owners pay some 
outside party for its care. It is the 
whole locality or section that should 
be pleasing and beautiful, not one lot 
scrupulously cared for and the next 
one neglected. The man or woman 
who would delight in their lot being 
mowed and clipped and decorated and 



14 



218 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



contented to see their neighbor's in 
weeds would be narrow minded indeed. 
There are various ways of filling 
vases, but where there are thousands 
in one cemetery and perhaps two or 
three hundred on one "section" alone, 
there must be a good deal of sameness. 
Some few have one palm alone. Many 
are filled with one color of geraniums 
with or without any drooping plant for 
an edge. A few are filled with cannas 
or caladiums. Some contain a mass of 
one variety of coleus with a distinct 
edge, but more than half of the whole 
are filled with a variety of plants with 
some drooping plants to hang over the 
edge. If in a windy place the so-called 
"vines" or droopers have a hard time 
of it, and are little ornament. 

Nearly everyone wants his or her 
vase to look just perfection the day it 
is put out and expect it to continue to 
keep looking so till October, the unrea- 
sonableness of which we have to strive 
with and do our best to please. Water- 
ing is not the only thing a vase wants 
in summer. Much can be done and 
must be done by keeping off withered 
flowers, yellow leaves and pinching 
out the stronger growing plants, of 
which the coleus is the worst to crowd 
out the rest. Cleaning the vases, as 
we call it, should be attended to at 
least once a week. 

In palms or that style of plant, a 
Chamaerops humilis, any of the phoe- 
nix or Dracaena indivisa can be used 
in the broad sun. It is impossible to 
give water enough to keep the lata- 
nias or kentias from burning, but if 
in the shade of trees then any of the 
handsome palms can be used. Any of 
the foliage plants such as coleus, 
achyranthes or acalypha have a good 
appearance if nicely pinched and in 
order. 

It is undeniable that the geranium is 
unequaled as a vase plant if flower 
and color is wanted, but they should 
be in the full sun. The varieties 
should be not only good bloomers but 
strong, vigorous kinds that will keep 
their foliage as well as flower. The 
single, for this purpose, are of little 
use. Of those we have tried for the 
purpose the best are Prokop Daubeck, 
a very robust, large, double red; there 
is hardly a variety as good; Ernest 
Lauth, fine for the purpose; Alphonse 
Ricard, orange scarlet; S. A. Nutt, 
crimson; Tower Eiffel, bright scarlet; 
Emile de Gerardin, pink, but now su- 
perseded by F. Perkins, a pink un- 
equaled; Beaute Poitevine, salmon; 
La Favorite, double white. The silver 
leaved Mountain of Snow is most use- 
ful as an edge, and so is the compact 
Mme. Salleroi. Sometimes the gera- 
nium vases have only one of the varie- 
gated geraniums for an edging, and 
sometimes some drooper, but when the 
latter only one kind should be used. 
Vinca, glechoma or the ivy geranium 
are very suitable. A favorite vase 
with hundreds Is pink geraniums with 
the pink ivy leaf for an edging. 

The mixed vases are in the majority 
and are the least profitable to the flor- 
ist and the least satisfactory. In the 



center we use a small phoenix or a 
dwarf canna, but nearly all ask and 
opect us to use a Dracaena indivisa. 
This wonderfully useful plant not only 
thrives under the worst kind of treat- 
ment but actually improves every day 
till fall, and near the end of summer 
is the redeeming feature of many a 
vase. When using mixed plants there 
is quite a variety. Dwarf flowering 
cannas; Grevillea robusta, which gives 
a light, feathery effect; all the gera- 
niums mentioned; coleus, in great va- 
riety; three kinds of achyranthes, Be- 
gonia Vernon, and some other flower- 
ing kinds; Abutilon Souv. de Bonn 
(and we think Savitzii will be a great 
addition to our vase plants), antheri- 
cum, Centaurea gymnocarpa, aspidis- 
tra; fuchsias, but these should only be 
used in partial shade, and Black 
Prince and old speciosa are the two 
best for the purpose; variegated 
euonymus; and perhaps a few more 
can be added to the list. The coarse 
monster Caladium esculentum should 
not be used with other plants, for it 
entirely exhausts the soil. 

For droopers we have a variety to 
choose from. The weaker kinds get 
crushed out, but look pretty for the 
first month. We use first the varie- 
gated and green trailing vincas. We 
consider this the most important of 
all our vase droopers. Several varie- 
ties of the ivy geranium, English ivy, 
gramanthea (a small creeping succu- 
lent), glechoma (variegated), the so- 
called German ivy (senecio). lysi- 
machia, double sweet alyssum, lobelia, 
nasturtium, Abutilon vexillarium, 
lopospermum, Solanum jasminioides, 
Pilogyne suavis, nierembergia, petu- 
nias, Kenilworth ivy, etc. 

The prettiest vase in our cemetery 
this entire summer is a vase of tuber- 
ous-rooted begonias. It is grand, but 
it is in the shade of trees. Where this 
is the case it makes a splendid plant. 
Asparagus Sprengeri seed is yet a lit- 
tle expensive; when as cheap as smilax 
seed we believe this asparagus will be 
one of our finest drooping vase plants, 
and particularly for our veranda boxes. 
In a warmer section of the country the 
crotons make splendid vase plants. Do 
not put in plants that are showy, but 
that you know will quickly go out of 
flower and flower no more that season; 
such plants as our Show pelargoniums 
and pyrethrums. 

As the soil you use is to support as 
many plants in a 2-foot vase as would 
properly fill a 6-foot flower bed, you 
must use the richest soil. In addition 
to one-third of rotten manure added 
to your loam, add a 6-inch pot of bone 
flour to every barrow-load. Keep the 
plants pretty well up on the surface, 
but see that the soil is firmly packed 
around every plant. We find work- 
)nen very guilty of neglecting that 
part of it. and we find when three or 
four hundred vases have to be filled in 
a week that there has to be some sys- 
tem about it. 

First a list is given the boss of the 
gang, of the names of the owners which 
reads like this: "Mrs. Particular, one 



iron vase. Fill good mixed, only light 
colored geraniums." Or "Mrs. Usual, 
one iron vase. All pink geraniums and 
pink ivy leaf." And every vase has 
the name of owner attached. With a 
man to place the plants in, another to 
fill in solid, another to moss and water 
and another to keep the supply of 
plants on hand, a great many vases 
can be filled in a day. 

I had almost forgotten the impor- 
tant item of moss. We cover the sur- 
face of the soil, or at least four inches 
all around from the edge, with green 
wood moss. We used to load up wag- 
ens and drive to the country with 
plants and soil, but find a much better 
plan is to bring home the top or bowl 
of the vase, fill it and return it the 
same or next day. People ask you to 
get their vase started in the green- 
house. We should want a circus tent 
to hold them all, and they are none 
the better for getting the tender 
growth of the greenhouse. Fill them 
up and away with them. 

Decoration Day, or about that time, 
is the only week of the year that we 
are truly miserable, but with all the 
hurry and vexation we survive, or have 
up to date. 

VENTILATION. 

Ventilation is primarily afforded to 
keep down temperature when the sun's 
rays have heated up the houses, but to 
give and afford a free circulation of 
fresh air to the plants is quite as 
much a reason for ventilation. Our 
large glass of the present day quickly 
runs up the temperature with the sun 
shining, and if ventilation is not faith- 
fully attended to at the proper time 
great harm is done, and in the case of 
roses months of hard and faithful la- 
bor can be ruined. 

The necessity and benefit of ventila- 
tion is too well known to need any 
lengthy remarks. It is the mental side 
of the business. It wants watching 
like the water gauge of a steam en- 
gine, but more scientific. It is the 
same sort of science that is brought 
into use by Mary Murphy when she 
knows the potatoes are just done, and 
cooking is a science. You can lay down 
rules that this or that house should be 
ventilated when the thermometer reg- 
isters a certain degree, but to that 
f-hould be added some knowledge and 
judgment. In rose growing it is per- 
haps the most particular of all work 
connected with them, and if a man has 
charge of three or four houses it will 
almost keep him busy in the spring 
and fall months running from one to 
the other regulating the ventilation. 

A man should be able to tell with- 
out even looking at the thermometer 
whethei- the sashes are too much or 
not enough open. The thermometer is 
of course an infallible guide and au- 
thority, but there are times when even 
a few degrees higher is of less injury 
to the plant than a keen, cutting 
draught of air. Often the ?ashes are 
opened six inches when two inches 
would be plenty. There is one good 
rule and that is to begin ventilating 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



219 




A Rustic Vase. 



early and take it off early. Too many 
are yet guilty of waiting till perhaps 
10 o'clock on a bright morning and 
then opening up wide; first subjecting 
the plants to an enervating heat and 
then giving them a sudden chill. By 
shutting up early in the afternoon you 
have utilized the sun heat and saved 
roal, and sun heat is always better for 
the plants than fire heat. There are 
thousands of houses throughout the 
country that are sadly inadequate in 
ventilation, and in such houses roses, 
carnations and all our flowering plants 
will draw up weak. 

What we are most concerned about 
Is not the mistakes that have been 
made, but to prevent any more. In 
houses that are attached it is obvious 
that side ventilation can only be given 
tm the two exterior walls, and in any 
rose house we would not have any 
ventilation in the side wall or glass, 
even it it cost nothing, because we 
could not use it. In plant houses or 
in carnation houses side ventilation is 
perhaps desirable, but I think not at 
all necessary if ample ventilation is 
given at the ridge. 

In equal span carnation houses we 
have in addition to the ordinary venti- 
lating sash on the south side a large 
sash about 5x3 hinged on the north 
side, 8 feet between sash. We have no 
ventilating gear attached, but after 
settled warm weather, or when there 
is no longer danger of weather that 
would hurt carnations, we raise these 
sash eight or nine inches on blocks 
of wood, and then tie them securely 
down, leaving them so till first of Oc- 



tober. Believing that if ample venti- 
lation is provided on one side of the 
ridge is enough, arid we do believe it 
from experience and observation of 
other people's houses and crops, then 
it is useless to discuss the matter fur- 
ther. 

Ventilation should be provided the 
whole length of a house. If it is want- 
ed at all in one place in the roof then 
it is wanted the entire length, and it 
must be better to give three inches all 
along than six inches only in spots. 
And this will apply not only to a rose 
house but any greenhouse for whatso- 
ever use intended. Though you may 
need but one inch of ventilation 
throughout the whole month of Janu- 
ary, in June our climate demands the 
utmost you can give. It takes no more 
glass to have continuous ventilation, 
no more in cost of apparatus except a 
few arms, and only a few dollars more 
in extra ventilators. 

In the long-span-to-the-south the 
ventilation is always on the south side 
of the ridge, and the same in equal 
span houses whose ridge runs east and 
west. In the short-span-to-the-south 
the ventilation is on the north side of 
the ridge. In houses where the ridge 
runs north and 'south, always equal 
?pan, the ventilation should be on the 
cast side. You can open them earlier 
and our prevailing winds are from the 
west. We are often able to give an 
inch of air at the ridge when cold out- 
side without feeling any draught 
whereas if the ventilators were hinged 
at the ridge and opened two feet down 
the sash we should feel a draught And 



if it is good for one house or one kind 
of plants It certainly is for all. So 
that is the way to hang your ventila- 
tors; let them all open at the ridge. 

While you are having sash made 
have them large enough. If the 
house Is from 19 to 23 ft. wide, the 
ventilators should be from 30 to 36 
inches deep and continuous. The 
length of each section should be not 
over 5 ft. or the sash will be too 
heavy to lift easily, but there is not 
nearly so much weight to lift when 
they open at the ridge as when hinged 
at the ridge. The ventilator man will 
tell you how many machines you need. 

No one would think in this day of 
ventilating without the use of one of 
the machines which do their work so 
admirably. They will pay for them- 
selves easily in labor saving in one 
5'ear, and without them I can't see 
how you could manage. Yet some 
struggle on without them. It is not 
the labor saving alone, it is the plants 
that suffer when the sash are moved 
by ropes or rods or sticks. To raise 
or lower a lot of sash by those crude 
methods is quite a chore and too often 
if you are busy and you think actual 
necessity does not compel, you are too 
apt to say, "It's pretty warm, but I 
guess it won't hurt." You are shirk- 
ing the job, but how easy to say, "Jim, 
put on a crack of air," and Jim turns 
the handle and up goes a hundred feet 
of sash in a moment, and only fun to 
do it. There are several good appli- 
ances. I have five different makes, 
and like best the "Challenge" ventila- 
tor. 

VERANDA BOXES. 

This style of ornamental gardening 
is very much in vogue in some cities. 
In none I think more than the fine 
residence city of Buffalo. They are an 
evolution from the more humble win- 
dow box which I noticed was very 
much in use in humble dwellings of 
European cities, where the yellow Cal- 
ceolaria aurea floribunda was one of 
the most useful and gaudy plants, and 
with the blue lobelia made a most 
striking show. The calceolaria is use- 
less here. 

Veranda boxes are not suitable in 
connection with a brown stone castle, 
and they don't have anything as com- 
mon as a veranda, but in many of our 
beautiful homes where part or the 
front or side of the house is a veranda 
they are most appropriate. They are 
seldom on the top of the rail, but 
usually on the level of the floor of the 
veranda, and the tops of the plants 
reach up to the rail. 

If asked to furnish the box you 
should be able to do it and have some 
planing mill man of your acquaintance 
know how to put them together. Have 
them made of cypress and well painted 
to suit the color or the wood of the 
veranda. A very good size is 6 inches 
deep, 9 inches wide at top and 8 inches 
at bottom, all inside measure. We fill 
many larger, but they should not be 
smaller for plants to do well. Holes 
are bored in the bottom to afford 



220 

drainage. If they are made in sec- 
tions ot 6 feet they are easy to handle 
and can be taken to the greenhouse to 
fill, but if very large we cart the soil 
and plants to the lawn. Such a bos as 
I have given the size for is worth to 
mako of cypress and painted 75 cents 
per lineal foot and you should get the 
same price per foot for filling it. Like 
the vases a good appearance is expect- 
ed from the very start. 

If in the afternoon sun the same 
plants are used as those mentioned for 
vasei, but more cannas can be used in 
the back of the box. and don't use too 
many coleus or they will smother the 
geraniums. The drooping vines will 
be the chief beauty of these boxes and 
it matters not how common they are 
if they grow freely. The pilogyne and 
lophospermum are two splendid droop- 
ers for this purpose. Mignonette and 
lemon verbena can be used for their 
sweet odor. 

If the boxes get only the morning 
sun, or very little at all, the gera- 
niums will not flower, but you can use 
several plants that you could not in 
the sunny bleak exposures of the 
cemetery. Begonia Rex looks well. 
Fuchsias will thrive and flower if not 
too crowded, and small plants of lata- 
nia and kentia, and better for fine ef- 
fect thau all is the beautiful nephro- 
lepis, both the Boston form and tuber- 
osa. Nothing is equal to these ferns 
and if kept watered they stand the sun 
finely. 

Veranda boxes are nearly always 
satisfactory. They are more or less 
sheltered and get plenty of water. In- 
struct your patrons that the soil be- 
ing crowded with roots they want a 
good soaking every evening and tell 
them that when the coachman or they 
themselves handle the hose not to 
stand and let drive at them as if they 
were putting out a fire, but let the hose 
run in on the soil till they are well 
wet. 

VERBENA. 

The garden variety of these well 
known plants are probably hybrids. 
They have been decidedly deposed 
from their former popularity by the 
carpet and sub-tropical bedding, but 
of late we see many more verbena 
beds, and few plants can be prettier. 
The varieties we get from seed are 
now so good that little attention is 
paid to named sorts and the trouble 
of keeping them over winter is dis- 
pensed with. 

If you wish to propagate fine va- 
rieties thev should be shortened back 
about the "first of September and kept 
watered. By the end of the month 
there will be plenty of nice, fresh cut- 
tines and only a quick, tender growth 
sho^uld be used. Put the cuttings in 
the propagating house, or what is as 
oood in flats with some soil m bottom 
and sand on surface. Keep the flats m 
a cold frame and keep moist and shad- 
ed from the sun. They will take a co- 
pious watering every day. 

Verbenas will stand quite a fiost, 
but it is not well to let tie cuttings 



The FLORISTS' manual. 

freeze. When rooted they can be kept 
in a cool but light house and be kept 
iu the flats till after New Year's, when 
they can be potted off into 2y2-inch 
pots and kept in a temperature of 50 
degrees. You will soon get plenty of 
(uttings which root very freely, and 
before spring you can have a large 
stock. Plants propagated from cut- 
tings want to "flower early and those 
propagated in February and March 
will want at least one pinching. 

Seed is now used by most florists 
for their stock of verbenas. It has the 
advantage of producing good, healthy 
plants free of all disease, and when 
planted out they are sure to do well 
and make a most satisfactory flower 
bed. Sow the seed in February, and 
pot into 2-inch pots as soon as up an 
inch. You can usually get a cutting 
from an early sowing if you wish. If 
not just pinch out the tip of the plant. 
A temperature of 45 to 50 degrees will 
answer these seedlings, but they 
should be given full light. 

There is no place equal to a mild 
hot bed for the verbenas, so about the 
middle of April plunge the small pots 
in a few inches of soil in a mild bed. 
They will grow very fast and quickly 
gel rooted in the soil of the bed which 
will delay their flowering, particularly 
the seedlings, and for that reason they 
should be lifted, the roots rubbed off 
and put back in the same spot. That 
will check their growth and induce 
them to flower. Most of our customers 
want to see the colors, so it is impor- 
tant to get them into flower. 

Verbenas are much troubled with 
green fly, and they should be perfectly 
clean when they go into the hot-bed. 
If affected with the rust so trouble- 
some to the verbena when we grew 
named varieties, throw them away; it 
is much cheaper to buy clean stock. 

Verbena venosa is a true species and 
always raised from seed. It can be 
sown in February and, grown along in 
flats. Its beautiful and abundant blue 
flowers make a fine bed either alone 
or in combination with a silver leaf 
geranium. 

Verbenas can be planted out early 
in May. A slight frost will do them 
no harm, but our customers seldom 
look for them till end of May. 

VINCA. 

The trailing V. major, and its varie- 
gated form, is one of our most useful 
trailing or drooping plants. The long 
drooping growths seldom flower, but 
the short, erect growths do. The flow- 
er is, however, of little consequence. 
Plant out a suflicient stock of young 




erbenas... 



., SEND FOR PRICES. 

Are grown by the 

Hundreds of Thousands by 

J. L. DILLON, ....Bloomsbur^. Pa. 



plants in the spring. They make a 
great growth in any good soil. 

Put in cuttings in September. The 
cuttings should not be made of the 
hardest part of the stems, and should 
always be of two eyes, as we depend 
on growths from the bottom eye. We 
like the propagating bed for these cut- 
tings. They root rather slowly, but 
surely. Keep in 2-inch pots till Janu- 
ary in any cool house and then shift 
into 3-inch. As they grow they will 
need the edge of the bench, or the 
edge of a rose or carnation bench, so 
that their long growths can hang 
down. 

Some growers lift up the plants 
fiom the field in October and stand on 
the edge of the benches. They make 
fine decorative plants for some occa- 
sions, as their numerous growths will 
be several feet long. In February 
they divide the large plants and pot 
into .3 or 4-inch pots. 

The young growths are troubled 
with green fly. Any soil and any cool 
house will grow them, and they need 
little light till they begin to make 
their growth in early spring. Use 
good rich soil when shifting from 2 
to 3-inch, as you want them to grow 
fast. 

Vinca minor, often strangely called 
myrtle by our people, is perfectly 
hardy. Where grass won't grow in 
shady city lots it covers the ground 
finely. It can be divided and planted 
either in spring or fall and will quick- 
ly cover the ground. 
" Vinca rosea is a very different plant 
and requires a warm house in winter. 
It makes a pretty greenhouse plant, 
but its chief use with us is in the flow- 
er garden, where it makes a very pret- 
ty bed, and a change from the high 
colored geraniums. It can be easily 
raised from seed sown in January and 
<;;rown on in a light, warm house, and 
needs an occasional pinching to make 
the plants bushy. 

Plants can also be lifted and after 
New Year's cut back, when you will 
get young growths which root freely. 
Don't plant out till frost is surely 
past. 

VIOLET. 

The violets we grow are varieties ot 
V odorata. There is ever an increas- 
ng love of the violet, and it seems 
that the past three or four years the 
luantity grown and sold is enormous. 
Violets are rather a precarious crop 
here; if you fail you fail entirely. In 
milder climates where only the pro- 
tection of a cold-frame is needed there 
is not so much fear of failure. South 
ot Baltimore violets are grown in cold- 
frames and covered with mats in cold 
weather. That would not do for us, 
although with careful attention you 
can have a lot in the cold-frames that 
will give you flowers sometimes till 
Christmas, and again in April, and for 
later they are better than those grown 
all winter inside. 

Fine crops of violets have been 
grown by several methods. And many 
vet adhere to the plan of planting out 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



221 




the young stock in May and lifting in 
September, and planting in six inches 
of soil on a bench. If you are success- 
ful that way keep on. I, however, have 
seen many failures that way, and be- 
lieve in and practice a method that is 
I think more natural to the plant, and 
by which method I have for several 
seasons now been entirely successful. 
Without mentioning the methods of 
other people or what I don't practice 
I will at once give my plan and expe- 
rience. 

I have repeatedly tried both the run- 
ners and division of the old plant, and 
have decidedly the best results with 
the runners, cut off in February and 
put In the sand as we do other cut- 
tings. As we use no bottom heat for 
them flats with two inches of sand 
will do just as well. When well root- 
ed we pot into 2%-inch pots and keep 
for a few weeks in a carnation house 
temperature, and give them the full 
light. By middle to end of April we 
put them into a cold-frame and by 
middle of May remove the sash entire- 
ly. There they will grow stout and 
strong. Early in June we plant them 
about ten inches apart on the benches. 

I will stop here to say that a violet 
house should be equal span, running 
north and south, with solid beds. The 
walls need not be over 2 feet high 
and the paths can be dug out 1 foot, 
which leaves the surface of the beds 
at a convenient height to work; 19 
feet is a good width, with two side 
benches, two paths and a 6-foot 6-in. 
middle bed. Although the plants in 
the middle of the center bench are ten 
feet from the glass they are just as 



Bed of Vinca Rosea.. 

good as those on the side bench that 
are only two feet from the glass. The 
pipes are hung on the side walls a 
foot above the plants; no heat 
descends to cause red spider. Three 
2-inch hot water pipes on each side 
will heat this house very nicely. A 
small house will do as well, but it Is 
much cheaper to build the larger 
house than two small ones. 

The beds being solid, we remove the 
top six inches of soil and fork in some 
bone dust another six inches deep, 
then put on our new soil. A rather 
heavy loam suits them best, but not at 
all stiff. Violets don't like fresh ani- 
mal manure and if the compost is put 
up the fall previous it will be to ad- 
vantage. It need not be turfy soil 
such as you would look for in rose 
growing. We have used the top five 
inches of a clover sod and found it ex- 
cellent. When piling it up add an 
eighth of well rotted cow manure, and 
when chopping over in spring for use 
add half a peck of bone flour to every 
cubic -yard. Make the bed only moder- 
ately flrm. 

For two seasons we removed the 
glass entirely. This you can do if your 
root is sash, or better still, butted 
glass, but on building a larger house 
we rather begrudged the labor and re- 
moved only every third run of glass. 
As the sun moves, or rather we do. 
the same plants do not get the sun for 
very long and when it rains those im- 
mediately below get the beneflt of the 
rain, but that is easily regulated- in 
watering. The remainder of the glass 
is shaded. This plan gives a perfect 
circulation of air and keeps the house 



cool. If I could not remove the glass 
then I would have a continuous foot of 
ventilation in both side walls. 

The violets soon begin to grow and 
need plenty of water during all times. 
Up to New Year's you should keep the 
runners cut off. Not the stout little 
off shoots that are near the original 
crown, let them remain, but the real 
runners that make a gi'owth of three 
or four inches. During summer and 
at all times violets must be kept 
scrupulously clean. There is work 
about them and so there is about any- 
thing that there is an honest dollar in. 
You must go over them repeatedly and 
clean off imperfect flowers, yellow 
leaves, etc. 

During July, August and September 
the violets must be frequently syring- 
ed to keep down red spider. Don't 
sprinkle them just to make them 
moist, but let them have a sharp, fine 
stream with the hose every two or 
three days, and remember the spider 
is on the underside of the leaf. If you 
let red spider get a foothold in August 
you will have a great job to get rid of 
them by October, when too much sy- 
ringing would not be good, but syring- 
ing in the hot months is beneficial. If 
your violets are clean of spider by end 
of September there is little fear of 
your being troubled with them after 
that. During winter they do not want 
any syringing, but want plenty of 
water at the roots, which can be given 
copiously without wetting the leaves. 
We put our glass in towards end of 
September. Top ventilation is then 
plenty. 

Firing should be put off till there i^ 



222 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



danger ot the houses going below 40 
degrees at night, but a little fire with 
the ventilators open will do good in 
a wet, cool time. By fire heat we like 
to keep the houses about 40 to 42 de- 
grees at night and 55 degrees in day 
time. If sun heat goes up to 60 or 65 
degrees no harm is done. Green fly 
does not trouble the violets in summer 
but appears often in September or Oc- 
tober. For that we vaporize with to- 
bacco extract, being careful not to 
make it too strong. 

End of October we clean the beds 
carefully, sprinkle on some bone flour 
and stir it into the soil, and then put 
on half an inch of rotten leaves or 
very rotten manure. 

The chief trouble with the violet is 
the spot, which is probably a mould or 
fungus, and has been proved to be 
spread by syringing. I know of noth- 



lly that punctures the leaf and lays an 
egg that destroys the tissue. We have 
seen the fly. Tobacco in any form has 
no effect on it. As a preventive we 
have used the hydrocyanic acid gas, 
and it had nothing but the very best 
results on violets. And it destroys all 
liinds of aphis or anything that has 
lungs. 

A little experience with this deadly 
gas very recently may be of interest. 
We generated the gas to kill the black 
fly on chrysanthemums, but brought 
into the house a plant each of Adian- 
tums cuneatum and Farleyense, both 
ot which had young, tender fronds. 
After the operation we found that a 
few of the very tips of the chrysan- 
themums were touched, mostly near 
where the jars stood, but the ferns the 
next day or since have not shown the 
slightest effects from it. The formula 



The California does not want its run- 
ners cut off after November, as from 
the runners you soon get flowers. A 
few plants should always be grown 
for their leaves, which are always in 
abundance, and fine, small green galax 
leaves are much used with the double 
violet; it is better than robbing our 
plants of their leaves. 

WATERING. 

No subject connected with horticul- 
ture is more difficult to handle than 
this. You cannot give any specific di- 
rections; you can only give general 
ideas. Watering occupies much of the 
labor of a florist and its proper execu- 
tion is of the greatest importance. 
Plants in the ground are assisted occa- 
sionally by artificial watering, but 
with our entirely artificial way of 
growing them on benches and in pots 




ing else but picking off the affected 
leaf the moment you see it. It ap- 
pears first as a little black speck and 
then radiates out, killing the tissue. 
Some application of sulphur or Bor- 
deaux mixture might destroy it, but 
either will destroy every leaf of the 
violet. We have tried the Bordeaux 
mixture and had a most convincing 
experiment. We do not consider the 
spot at all dangerous if you keep your 
foliage dry and maintain a genial dry 
atmosphere, and destroy the leaves 
whenever you discover it. 

The violet is subject to a small 
green slug which appears in the au- 
tumn. Perhaps this small half-inch 
long worm is the larva of some beetle. 
It riddles the leaves sadly. I have 
never been troubled with it, but have 
frequently seen it, and saw it destroy- 
ed by an application of flour and paris 
green dusted thoroughly among the 
leaves. 

What we most dread is what we call 
"curled leaf," when the yoimg leaves 
curl and wrinkle up. An authority in- 
forms me that it is caused by a minute 



House of Violets. 

for this gas is in article on Fungicides 
and Insecticides. 

We are often asked for pots of vio- 
lets, and it is quite an Easter plant. 
They would not last long in a living 
room, however well established, and 
we cannot grow a plant so satisfacto- 
rily as by lifting a few of the best 
budded a week or ten days before they 
are wanted. 

There are several varieties of this 
sweet flower, but we cannot find one 
to suit the public, or so satisfactory 
to grow and flower, as Marie Louise, 
the beautiful blue with more or less 
white eye; the better grown the less 
eye. Farquahar is no improvement. 
The old Neapolitan is a beautiful vio- 
let and is still grown by some, but its 
color is not liked by the many. You 
don't want many white violets; about 
a tenth of your stock. All of the above 
want the same treatment. 

The strong growing single flowered 
California can be grown in the same 
way", or it does very well planted out 
and lifted in September. They sell 
very well, but not equal to the double. 



and tubs they are entirely dependent 
on our attendance to their most im- 
portant element, water. 

I remarked some years ago that 
good waterers, like poets, are born not 
made. Here again is the most truly 
mental part of our business. The me- 
chanical application is considerable, 
but not near as important as the 
knowledge and judgment required to 
know just when to water. A gentle- 
man at the Canadian Horticultural 
convention, lately assembled at Ot- 
tawa, expressed his admiration for the 
exclusive use of the watering pot in 
the European gardens. 

The writer has had a good deal of 
practice with the watering can, both 
here and in Great Britain, and has 
not the slightest veneration for the 
w-atering pot or its use. We don't be- 
lieve that the production of fine plants 
has anything to do with the use of 
them and believe the hose has many 
advantages and no disadvantages that 
we can see. It is simply a matter ot 
who is handling it. The hose in the 
hands of a careless man may be dan- 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



223 



gerous to the plants from over water- 
ing, while if the same man had to 
carry water in cans he would be prob- 
ably too lazy and the plants would suf- 
fer for want of water. The watering 
can is laborious, slow, and expensive. 
The hose is one-tenth the labor; no 
excuse for scrimping the plants, the 
water can be applied at any degree of 
speed, and the hose can be used as a 
syringe to perfection. 

You can soak a carnation bed in the 
month of May in one-twentieth of the 
time you could with a can. You can 
run a stream among violets in No- 
vember without wetting their leaves 
far better than you can with a water- 
ing pot. You can water a bench of 
geraniums in the month of May with 
pleasure and do it thoroughly. You 
can with a very slow stream look over 
all your palms at any season. You can 
water a 7-foot bench of lilies perfectly 
when they are standing pretty close 
together, which you could hardly do at 
all with a watering pot. You can with 
a fine rose attached moisten the most 
particular orchid, or water a propagat- 
ing bed, or even a flat of seeds if you 
know how to handle the hose. In fact, 
you can do anything and everything 
with a hose connected with watering 
or syringing plants, and to go back to 
the old watering pot would be as bad 
as a Manitoba wheat farmer discarding 
the gang plow and adopting the pecu- 
liar method described by Dean Swift's 
Gulliver who dropped on a race of peo- 
ple who plowed their land by burying 
in their fields acorns and then drove 
the pigs in which hunting with their 
noses for the acorns, disturbed the 
soil. And the handling of 4-gallon 
watering cans at a tender age used to 
produce a corn on our palms. 

It is merely the science of handling 
the hose. A man to be a first class hand 
at watering in plant houses should 
have perfect sight. We had a man for 
several years who in other respects 
was a zealous worker, but would miss 
plants here and there and leave plants 
that were very dry without a drop of 
water. When he left us he donned spec- 
tacles. He was very short sighted and 
had always been so but did not want 
us to know it. 

We have read in a very good little 
volume on floriculture that a man 
watered a house in a very few minutes 
by spraying the whole lot. We don't 
of course believe in any such work. 
Pouring a stream of water over a mixed 
lot of plants would be absurd. The 
houses that contain only one kind of 
plants are much more simple to water 
than a house or bench containing seve- 
ral, or perhaps twenty, but as we have 
all plants standing in blocks, each sort 
by themselves, it is yet simple to dis- 
tinguish whether this batch wants it or 
whether it would bs better left till to- 
morrow. 

We don't all have whole houses or 
benches of one plant. Just now, Oc- 
tober, a very particular month for 
watering, you may have on a bench a 
few ericas, next azaleas, next some 
Harrisii lilies, next pot chrysanthe- 



mums, next acacias, next cyclamen, 
next some flowering geraniums. Some 
may want water and some are much 
better left to the following morning, 
and if your hose is running slowly 
how easy to pass on to the next batch. 
Some men have to be told repeatedly 
that- they do not get through watering 
any faster by letting such a strong 
steam run, and do not do the work so 
well. Whatever judgment is required 
about quantity for a bench, there is 
very little about watering plants in 
pots. If they want watering they want 
it, and that means that the space be- 
tween the soil and rim of pot is filled 
with water; that is a watering, and 
that is what we tell our customers 
when they ask the question, "How 
much water shall I give it?" 

Now, if the stream is moderately 
slow the water you pour on will re- 
main and fill up, but if a strong stream 
it will dash off onto the bench and 
leave the plant deficient of water. In 
April and May and the summer 
months a less experienced hand can 
water many things for there is less 
danger of overwatering, and if the 
benches and paths receive a lot of 
overflow no harm is done, for you 
want to damp down as it is, when 
evaporation is great. 

It is quite different in October and 
November when there is little fire heat 
and superfluous moisture would be in- 
jurious. As you pass along with the 
hose you water the flowering geranium 
without any syringing, and you come 
to 500 achyranthes that want not only 
watering but a good syringing too. The 
cinerarias won't want syringing but 
the cytisus will. And there you have 
with your hose and your forefinger a 
watering can and syringe in one. 

After middle of May watering in 
plant houses can be done in the after- 
noon. In fall, winter and early spring 
it should be done in the morning. Per- 
haps it is the color of the soil, perhaps 
it is instinct or long practice that en- 
ables us to see at a glance when a 
plant or batch of plants needs water. 
A practiced hand will know that the 
plants along the back of the bench 
where the heat of the pipes may bs 
coming up, or the front row where the 
sun and air gets more play at them, 
may want water while the rest do not. 
So he will run his hose along those 
rows and say to himself if he is think- 
ing of his business and not of his best 
girl, "Tomorrow the whole lot will 
take it." 

The quantity of water that a plant 
in pot needs, as before said, is not a 
question; it wants water or it does not. 
It never wants a little. With a bench 
of carnations or roses it is different. 
I believe except in hot weather in 
spring that no more should be given a 
bench than will go thoroughly to the 
bottom, and no more, but be sure you 
give it enough to do that. This is not 
so easy to determine, but practice and 
observation with one or two waterings, 
will soon teach you about how much 
will be proper, and it should be ap- 
plied softly, either with a rose attach- 



ed to the hose, which is quickly un- 
screwed when you want to begin to sy- 
ringe, or with a piece of flattened tin 
attached to hose, off which it passes in 
a gentle stream. 

Some authors say a plant should be 
allowed to ^et rather on the dry side 
and then be given water. Plants going 
to partial or entire rest in the fall will 
of course want to be allowed to get 
more and more often dry, but it is not 
so with our roses, carnations, violets, 
or our lilies or cyclamen or geraniums, 
or any plants that are growing fast, 
especially in spring. 

Have you ever noticed that a batch 
of plants, let it be fuchsias or gerani- 
ums or roses in pots, or anything else 
that is growing fast, that are plunged 
to their rims in refuse hops, ashes or 
tanbark, will far outstrip a batch of 
the same sort with the pots bare. There 
is no evaporation from the sides of the 
plunged pot and consequently a more 
uniform moisture, and that is the sole 
reason. This is very marked and a 
good lesson for us. Letting plants 
whose roots are active get repeatedly 
on the dry side day after day will tell 
on them and stunt their gi'owth com- 
pared with those that are kept at a 
more uniform moisture. This may be 
of no detriment to our bedding ge- 
raniums or eoleus or cannas, but it is 
to the plants that we want to make a 
fine growth or produce fine flowers. 

Some may say, look at the plants in 
the fleld. "My carnations have not had 
a drop of water or rain in six weeks, 
but they are growing." They are un- 
der entirely different conditions. We 
hoe the surface, or ought to. Evapo- 
ration from the ground is continually 
going on, and the looser we keep the 
surface the faster will be evaporation, 
and the more evaporation from the 
surface the more moisture rises to the 
surface from the depths of the, ground 
to nourish the roots. This is called 



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224 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 





capillary attraction. Hence it follows 
that the deeper we have plowed or 
dug, or the more we have broken up 
the subsoil, the better will the law of 
capillary attraction benefit the plant. 
So there is a more uniform moisture 
at the root than you think, even in 
the dryest time. 

All this benefit is of course cut off 
entirely in cultivating in pots and on 
bench. 

Have you ever noticed where a drain 
or sewer was laid four feet deep in a 
stiff clay the grass for years over the 
drain will be green in the dryest time, 
becaiise by the disturbance and break- 
ing up of the soil capillary attraction 
is helped? 

The sub-watering experiments on 
our benches is yet too new for me to 
enter into, and our trade papers have 
given full accounts of the methods. 
Something practical may be yet evolv- 
ed by our learned professors. 

In conclusion you should keep one 
man watering one house. He may 
water half a dozen, but if it is the 
same man and he is a gardener he 
will remember the condition that he 
left the plants on the previous day, 



Zinnias. 

and will know just about what will 
v/ant it the next. A good, intelligent, 
faithful waterer is as valuable a man 
as you have on your place. 

ZINNIA. 

The annual zinnias are the only ones 
in which the florist is interested. With 
selection and culture, they are now 
among the handsomest of our annuals 
for the border, and in certain places 
a whole bed of them, in many shades, 
ic very striking. 

They are very easy to grow and need 
only the ordinary treatment given 
many other annuals, except that no 
frost must ever touch them while in a 
cold-frame. Sow from the middle to 
the end of March, and when an inch 
high transplant into fiats two inches 
apart. By the middle of April a cold- 
frame is the right place for them. 
Plant in beds or borders after there is 
no danger of frost. 

They are strong, rampant growers, 
and should have plenty of room; 
eighteen inches to two feet apart is 
close enough. They should have a well 
tilled piece of ground and will then 



stand our hot, and often dry, sum- 
mers better than most of our summer 
flowering plants. 

While the zinnia well deserves a 
place in the flower garden, it is the 
most unpopular of all flowers for even 
the cheapest sort of a bouquet. The 
poorest purchaser does not want them 
at any price. We have noticed this so 
often that we never cut them, however 
short of cheap flowers we may be. 
This proves that there is an uncon- 
scious taste for the artistic, even 
among the most lowly. The zinnia is 
so absolutely regular in form, stiff and 
formal, one flower being exactly like 
another, that the eye rebels against 
il. In a bunch of roses, carnations, or 
almost any other flower, no two are 
precisely alike, but the zinnias look as 
though they all came out of one 
mould. Then again, the stem is so 
rigid that while it is all right on the 
plant, it detracts from the flower when 
cut. 

Grow zinnias to make your border 
gay, but don't offer the cut flowers to 
your customers. We raise quantities 
every year and sell the young plants 
from the flats at 25 cents per dozen. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



225 



VJ.4^4u Ju*Jt.*4.4.JM..».X 4.J. JU*J.***JM.***J^*J.*4. ***4.X4.y 

4 



H ENDEBsoN' qnsrp 



SEEDS 

PLANTS 

BULBS 

TOOLS 

ETC, 




3: 

^ 
I- 

I- 

I" 

I- 

t 

t- 
I- 
«- 

^ 
I- 

»- 

I: 

the! 



GARDEN 
GREENHOUSE 



t 



LAWN AND FARM ^ 

Are supplied Isy us only direct to the planter. 

Send for Catalogues. 

I PETER HENDERSON & CO. 

t 



t 



35 and 37 Cortlandt St., NEW YORK. 




Stumpp & Walter Co. 



HIGH GRADE 

SEEDS and BILBS. 
50 Barclay St., NEW YORK. 

Bobbink & Atkins, 

RUTHERFORD, N. J. 

RHODODENRONS, HARDY AZALEAS, 

H. P. ROSES, CLEMATIS, MAGNOLIAS, Etc 

FANCY EVERGREENS, INDIAN AZALEAS, 
TUBEROUS BEGONIAS, GLOXINL\S, Etc 

Dutch Bulbs, Hyacinths, Tulips, Crocus, Etc. 

FRENCH SEEDLINGS AND 
ORNAMENTAL NURSERY STOCK. 







i 



9 in trade 

fis open for all ^ 
j(j: competitors, ^ 

9 and the Fastest wins. If you have never tried our goods 
i give us a chance, and we assure you our goods cannot ^ 
^ but help you make money. ^ 

* WRITE FOR CATALOaUE. £ 

I W. Elliott& Sons, ^ 

I SEEDSMEN, 

I 54 & 56 Dey St., NEW YORK. | 

? TELEPHONE CONNECTIONS. ^ 



H. H. BERGER & CO. 

47 BARCLAY STREET. - - NEW YORK. 

Established 1878, 

Have for over twenty years supplied the Trade with Bulbs. Seeds and Plants 
Were the first tirra in the United States making large imports from 
lapan. Recommend themselves for 

III. Harrlsll, lonKllloruni, Auralum. Riihrum, Album, 
etc. Tuberoses, BesoDlns, Gloslnlas, Callus, Vy- 
elanien, Vallej, etc. 



I 



BULBS. 

CPPnQ \ll Palm Seeds, espertally Kentia, Aspara;:us P. N. 
WbbUwa and Sprengerll. Flower iieeds of all kinds, 

Bl A MT6 Cjeas Revoluia stems. Fern Balls, Asiildlstra, 
p tftPI I Oa Azaleas, Roses, DIematIs, etr. 

Address all communications as above. .•\ny information or estimates 
cheerfully given. 

HAGEMANN & MEYER, f 

Wholesale 
Importers of 

I gULBS, PLANTS 

AND IMMORTELLES. | 

NEW YORK: CHICAGO: | 

55 Dey Street. 21 Randolph Street 

Largest Importers of 
«; LILY OF THE VALLEY PIPS. 

^ Address all correspondence to New York Office. £ 



I 



226 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiim^ 

JJILIIS ROEHRSj 

I CARLTON HILL, N. J. j 

g Headquarters for M 

i Orchids, i 
I Large Palms,! 
j Bay Trees, j 

g And all varieties and sizes of S 

I Commercial Decorative Plants. I 



75 MODERN GREENHOUSES. 



I Business Established since 1870. | 

J.K.ALLEN, 

57 West 28th Street. 

THE OLDEST 

I ClT Flower Establishment I 

IN NEW YORK. 

Handles all Varieties on Consignment. 

Telephone and Telegraph Orders given immedi- 
j^^ ate attention. ,«: 



$ 



VJIuX4.J.X***J>.*J.J.4.*4.XJ^U>.*X4.J.J.J.X4.**A Xa.4.*A**4.^ 



Robert Craig & Son, 

49th and Market Sts., 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



Palms, Ferns 

and Decorative 
Plants 



Meritorious New Plants. 



CARNATIONS A SPECIALTY. 



Collection 



0. CROTONS 



America. 



FOR ANYTHING 

• IN THE CUT FLOWER LINE 

GO TO 

Walter F. Sheridan, 

WHOLESA'.E 

COMMISSION Dealer 

..IN .. 

CUT Flowers. 
39 West 28th St., NEW YORK. 

CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED. 




I PURDY AND BLAUVELT, t 



WHOLESALE 
CUT FLOWERS, 



I, 

{■ 57 West 30th Street, NEW YORK. t> 

'<^ ■? 

((c One of the oldest and most reliable f> 

" Commission Houses in America. ^ 

t - * 



•fe»)'4Sr»S'^r»i'^r»)'^r»)"45r*)' 



$, 



SHIPPING FACILITIES UNEQUALLED 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



227 



Ax ale a indicai 

""the INDIAN AZALEA NURSERIES. 

ESTABLISHED 1842. 

The Best Place in Europe to send your orders for Azalea Indica, 



|^|g\j||.j|5i*^;.-ii; 



THOSE 

WISHING 

CERTAIN 

QUANTITIES 

OF SPECL\L 

KINDS WILL DO 

WELL 

TO SEND IN 

THEIR ORDERS 

VERY EARLY 

IN THE 

SEASON. 

C C C- (t- CC-'C' *:€'«.•*: fc'C'f: 




OF 

85,750 PLANTS 

OF DIFFERENT 

SIZES 

SOLD IN 

1898, 

36,200 WENT 

TO FLORISTS 

IN THE 

UNITED 

STATES AND 

CANADA. 

iiiiiiii 



The stock grown on the extensive grounds of the Indian Azalea Nurseries, at 
Swynaerde, Ghent, Belgium (the largest establishment of its kind in Europe), is nicely 
shaped, well budded and the assortment is of the best and most salable varieties. 

Choice of assortment, provided orders reach us in good time. The stock on hand 
is very large and nice, especially in the 10 to 18-inch crowns. 

Catalogue free on application. For full particulars write to 

EUG. VERVAET de VOS, 

Proprietor of the Indian Azalea Nurseries, Swynaerdc, Ghent, Belgium. 



228 



THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 




ss 



Trees 

Shrubs and 
Roses 



for public and private grounds, as well as for the 
orchard, farm, garden or city lot. Our General 
Catalogue and Planter's Guide is beautifully 
illustrated, contains accurate, trustworthy descrip- 
tions of the most valuable varieties, and is replete 
with prartical hints and suggestions indispensable to 
planters. It is the most complete published, and will 
be mailed free on application. 

CHOICE SELECTIONS. BEST GOODS. 
PRICES REASONABLE. 

ELLWANGER & BARRY, 

Ml. Uope Nurseri.,, ROCHESTER, ^. Y. 



ESTABLISHED UPWARDS OF SIXTY VEARS. 



P^ 



gURPEE'S "BLUE LIST" 

Our Wholesale Price List of 
Seeds in larger quantities, 

is mailed on application to MARKET GARDENERS. 

IF YOU PLANT FOR PROFIT 

you sliould write at once for tins Wholesale Iiist, BUT we cannot send 
It to private planters, even il reciuested to do so. 

A NEW FEATURE FOR 1899 

in Burpee's "BLUE I^IST" that will be o( special interest to growers 
who plant for profit, is the "Plain Talks" wegive this year for the tirst time, 
in every department, as to just the best varieties tor different purposes. 

W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., 

SEED GROWERS. PHILADELPHIA. 



HEADQUARTERS for 

Florists' Supplies.... 

FANCY BASKETS, 
WHEAT SHEAVES (unexcelled), 
PLANT STANDS, POT COVERS, 
CYCAS LEAVES (best prepared). 

Immortelles, Doves, 

Cape Flowers, Chenille, 

Metallic Designs, Letters, 
Foil, etc., etc. 



Catalogue sent (to Florists only) for the asking. 



M. Rice & Co. 



Importers 

and Manufacturers of 



FLORISTS' SUPPLIES, 

918 Filbert St. Philadelphia, Pa. 



CIT STRINGS OF. 



Asparagus 
Plumosus Nanus. 

EIGHT TO TEN FEET LONG, 50 CENTS. 
ALL THE YEAR ROUND. 

SHIPPED TO ANY PART OF THE COUNTRY. 

W.H. Elliott, Brighton, Mass. 



(«^.'*^'<^.'*S.<*^.(«^.*=?f.<«^.^^.*^.*«^.i«^.i*"ft^''S.'<Ji*.»<*^.'*<^.(*Ta.^^.i;«-^^ 



I 



The Weekly Florists' Review 

Will keep you up to date in Commercial Floriculture, as well as 
giving you all the news of the Trade. Issued every Thursday. 
Subscription price $1.00 a year. Published by 

THE FLORISTS' PUBLISHING CO., 

CAXTON BUILDING, CHICAGO. 



<je 



I 



f 



'^:9i'U^-U^'^^:9^'U:^-^c9iUr9i''&9>U^<*^:U^'<di9i'y,-^'ik*>^c9i9-i!k9i-ik9^''&^-^:^ 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



229 



piiiiniiiniiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin 




Wc have the best of shipping facilities. 

Telegraph and telephone connections day and night. 

Choice Cut Flowers of all sorts. 



BEST 

STANDARD 
VARIETIES 
OF.... 



Sq. Feet of Glass for 



LONG 
DISTANCE 
DHONE 99. 



Koscs, Carnations, 
Cannas, Geraniums, 
Chrysanthemums and 
General Florists' Stock. 



Flowers and Vegetables j 



SEND US YOUR ORDERS. 



WE CAN PLEASE YOU. 



J. F. WILCOX, 



I 521 Broadway.. 



COLNCIL BLIFFS, lA. | 



lilllliillWlliJilllli;illllllli!lllliiiiiili!:!illliuilIii:iillliii:iilllii^'iilliiiiiiiliiii3illin^ 



Dreer's Specialties 

PALMS, FERNS, 
DECORATIVE PLANTS, 

NEW AND RARE AQUATICS. 

Nymphaeas, Nelumbiums, Victorias, Etc. 

HERBACEOUS PLANTS. 

A large collection of all the desirable species. 

NOVELTIES. 

All the latest introductions. 

Wholesale Trade Price Itlst, issued quarterly, offers and describes 
everything required by the trade in Seeds, Plants, Bulbs and Sup- 
plies. Sent free to florists. 

HENRY A. DREER, 7I4 Chestnut St., PHIUDELPHIA. 



»A&« 



'—» 



Henry Eichholz, 



Geranium 
Hybridiser and Specialist. 



MARS 



AND THEIR 
SEEDLINGS 



AMERICA 



?.<*^(«^i*^ (*^^^'*^(*^.< 



E. G. HILL &, CO. I 



I 



All Foreign Novelties of Merit. 

PRICES ON APPLICATION. 

HENRY EICHHOLZ, Waynesboro, ^rn,"" Pa. 



RICHMOND INDIANA. 

Fine Novelties and Best Standard 
Varieties in 

ROSES, CARNATIOIMS, j 

CHRYSANTHEMUMS, | 

GERANIUMS, f 

And General £ 

Florists' Stock. | 

E. G. HILL & CO. I 

piiiSiiSniiiiii^ 

! McFadden's SPECIALTIES. | 

1 PALMS. Trade sizes. S 

g BOSTON FERNS. .Ml sizes. Finest stock in the country, g 

I ADIANTUM FARLEYENSE, g 

^ SMAIiIi FEBITS. Fern Spores in variety. a 

g ASPABAQVS FI.TJMOSUS ITAITUS and SPBENOEBI. I 

B Cut .Asparagus Pluinosus Nanus and Sprengeri in any .juan- b 

g tity at all seasons. W 

M iSS^VIe grow for tlie trade only. Write for Wholesale Price Lists S 

I EMERSON C. McFADDEN, | 

g UNITED STATES EXOTIC NUBSEBIES, g 

= (Formerly Pitcher & Manda.i = 

B Telephone 10 B, Mllburn. SHORT HII,I,S, S. J. B 

liii jiniii:jiiiiiiiiiiii: iiiiin:iiiiiii'«iiiiiiiiiii;iiinii!'iiiiii;iiiii:«iii:iiiii' »w 



230 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 




C. C. POLLWORTH CO., M 



AS YOU 
CONSULT THIS 
BOOK FOR 
REFERENCE, 
LIKEWISE 
CONSULT US 
FOR YOUR 
SUPPLIES. 

GOOD STOCK IS 
ESSENTIAL 
TO GOOD 
GROWING 

iLWAUKEE, Wis. 



H. W. BICKBEE, 



AND PLANT 

SPECIALIST. 

Rockfortl Seed Farms, D^^lyf^-^ III 
Forest City Oreeuhouses, iXOCKTOrU, III* 



r 



ALL FLORISTS' NEEDS IN= 



Iiock Box No. 911. 



WHOLESALE TRADE PRICE LIST 
sent free to the TRADE upon application. 



Seeds, Bulbs, 
Plants 



(?■ 



for the 

rUORISTS.... 

e make a specialty of supplying the bCSC that can be grown. 

If vou do not receive our catalogue, write for it ; 
also our Spedul Florists* list. 

W. W. RAWSON & CO. 

12 & 13 Fuueuil Hall Square, 

BOSTON, MASS. 



3 
Cut nowers, | 

Seeds and Supplies • 

CAN BE OBTAINED OF \ 

4 

E. H. HINT, WabaVh^Ave. CHICAGO, ILL. J 

We issue every Spring and Fall a Trade Price List of every- | 

tiling needed by the trade Mailed free to florists only. ^ 



Herr's Pansies. 



The best in the country. 
Tlie best fiorisis will tell you so. 
A little better each season but 
always the same price. 

75 cents per hundred; $4.00 per thousand. 



Herr's Srailax. 



A marvel of cheapness and good 

quality combined. 
•iO.OfJO sold in "99" without a 

single complaint, 



Pot Plants at $1.50 per hundred; $15.00 per thousand. 



Herr's Carnations. 



raatioD on varieties and prices. 



Rooted Cuttings with 
roots and selected with 
an eye to their making 
good plants for my cus- 
tomers. Write for infor- 



ALBERT M. HERR, 

LANCASTER, PA. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



231 






-^ 



m 

m 






Simplicity in Greenhouse Construction. 

During our long experience we have not only made many im- 
provements in greenhouses, but we have so simplified the con- 
struction that building a greenhouse is no longer a matter so full 
of complications as to tax the patience and the ingenuity of even 
the most intelligent mechanic. Our 

Clear Cypress Building Material 

IS worked out in the best manner ready to be put up, and we 
furnish our customers such complete detail drawings that any 
workman of only ordinary capabilities can put it up correctly. 



WRITE FOR CIRCULARS OR ESTIMATES. 



^ 



LOCKLAND LUMBER CO., Lockland, Ohio. 



M 



)P 
)P 

f 
W 

If 
)P 









i^-' 



'Hi-' 



THE QUDDIN.... 



Adjustable 
Flower and 
Plant Stand 

Each stand ad- 
justable 9 inches 
from floor to 30 
inches in height 
or more if re- 
quired. 

THE 
MOST ISEFIL 
PLANT 
STAND 
KNOWN. 



Enameled in 
White. Green. 
Ruby Red and 
Blue, or any col- 
or desired 





MANUFACTURED BY 



i THE LINCOLN COMPANY, 



L 



54-70 Arch Street, HARTFORD. CONN. 



Vredenburg & Co., 



ROCHESTER, N. Y., 



pi73LISMe:rs of 



\A^L^ 



Fruit and Flower Plates 



IX AX-t, PKOCESSES. 

Over 3,000 varieties constantly in stock. 



Engraving to order and Stock Cuts of all 
kinds for sale. 



Seed Packets and Other Printed or Lithographed Supplibs. 



Artisticallv Arranged and Printed Catalogues a Specialty. 
twrixe por quotations. 



232 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



.Established 1765. 



A. H. HEWS & CO. 

NORTH CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 



The Largest 
Manufacturers 
in the World of 



Flower Pots 



ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE ON APPLICATION. 




Fern Pans.... 



No. 388. 



SOMETHING NEW IN FERN PANS 
AND SAUCERS. 
These Pans are made thin and strong, and 
the Saucers very shallow. They are very popu- 
lar, and are made in eight sizes, to be sold with 
or without saucers. 

The Pans are especially adapted for linings 
to porcelain and Silver Fern pans. 




Saucers for No. 388. 



Hammond's Paint ar" 

For 20 years many florists throughout the United States have used this paint. The 
purest and most durable that can be made. At prices to the craft that will pay to use it. 
EVERY GREENHOUSE MAN SHOULD TRY THIS PAINT. 




Ty-^- 



TWEMLOW'S OLD ENGLISH GLAZING PUTTY 

SEMI -LIQUID. USED IN BULB OR MACHINE. 

In Gallon Cans and Larger Packages. It has no equal probably for Greenhouse work. 

B. HAMMOND, PAINT AND SLUG SHOT WORKS, Fishkill-on-Hudson, N. Y. 



Have You Ised the Perfect Flower Pot 

Handle and Hanger? 




It is just the thing to display your plants 
bv hanging them on walls, etc.. especially 
when you are crowded for room. 

Also for lifting plants out of Jardinieres. Will 
sustain a weight of 100 IbS, 

No. 1 Will fit from 2 to f-inch pots, per doz., 30c 
No. 2 *' " 5 to 8 " " 40c 

No, 3 " " 8 to 12 " " 50c 

By mail, Kc extra per doz. 
Sample pair, 10c postpaid. 

For Sale by all Florists' Supply Dealers. 

W. C. KRICK, 

1287 Broadway, BROOKLYN, N. Y. 




W. C. KRICK'S 

FLORISTS' 
IMMORTELLE 
LETTERS, Etc. 

Medal awarded at 
th.:- World's Fair and 
hitihest award wher- 
i:\er exhibited. 

Tliese Letters and 
Tttisigns are made of 
tlie best Immortelles 
wired on wood or me- 
tal frames, having 
holes drilled in them 
til insert toothpicks, 
by which they are fas- 
tened in the design. 
( live them a tnal. 
Vou will hnd these 
Kuods to be superior 
tu any in the market 
2-in. Letters. S2.50 
' I^er 100. Postage 15 
cents per 100. 

For other styles of Letters, Emblems and Designs, 
send for catalogue. Before purchasing send for free 
Sample and catalogue, and compare with any other 
letter on the market. 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



233 



^r^'^'|rrl?^r|?'|?4'»i:»'|r'|?4»»l:»'l:'i?i:»'l:'i:»i:»'l:»i? 



^ 
^ 
^ 
^ 
^ 
^ 
-^ 
^ 
^ 
-^ 
^ 
•^ 
^ 



^ 

^ 
^ 
^ 
^ 
-^ 



ROYAL BOILERS 



STEAM 




WATER 



Hart & Grouse Co., Utica, N. Y. 



^ 



^ 
^ 
^ 
^ 
^ 
^ 
^ 
^ 
4 
^ 
^ 
^ 
^ 
^ 



^ 



t COLIMBIS, 0. CHICAGO. ST. LOUS. NEW YORK. 




SAVE REPAIR 



AND PUT IN 

IRON BENCHES WITH 

Jennings' Fittings 

Easily and quickly put together. No threads, no angle 
irons, no nails. Specially designed for the construction of 
iron bench frames and roof supports in greenhouses, con- 
servatories, etc. With these fittings the cost and labor of 
erecting iron benches is brought down to a minimum. Also 
"Jennings' fmproved Vaporizing Pans." Send fur catalogue 
and price list. JENNrNGS BROS., OIney, Phila., Pa. 




100% PROFIT 
FOR YOU 

And Entire 8atlsraelion to .vnur 
Cnstonicrs. \Miat more does 
anybody uant 

WALKER'S EXCELSIOR 
FLOWER FOOD 

Is odorless and soluble and an Ideal 

food for liouse plants. Send for free 
literature and price list. When you 
want anytfiing vou want the best. 

We also furnisli the plant food in 
bulk for Horists" use. 

FLOWER CITY PLANT FOOD CO., 

ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



Gulf Cypress Greenhouse Material. 

Greenhouse Glass ^ ^ 



LINSEED OIL, PUTTY. MASTICA, WHITE LEAD, Etc., Etc. 
GLAZIERS' AND FLORISTS' DUHOND GUSS- CUnERS. 
VAN REYPER'S GLAZING POINTS. 



GET OUR PRICES BEFORE BUYING. 



S. Jacobs & Sons, 

Office: 406 West 13th St., NEW YORK. 

FACTORY STOBEHOtrSE : 
Flushing' and Metropolitan Aves., Borongh of Qneens, N. T. 



V J|.XJ|.4..<.J.J».J.AJ.AAJLJ.4.J. A .«.Ji.A*J.J.XA4lJ.AAJ. J.JLJ .4.XJULJ. ^ 



FLORISTS' BOXES and 

MAILING PACKAGES, i 




Write for samples and prices. 



I The Dayton Paper Novelty Co., Oayton/Oiiio. | 



234 



The FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



Thos. W. Weathered's Sons, 



ESTABI.ISri2:D 1859. 



Horticultural Architects and Builders 

....AND MANUFACTURERS OF.... 

GREENHOUSE HEATING AND VENTILATING APPARATUS. 




Winners of the Highest Award.... 

AT THE WORLD'S FAIR ; 

THE DEAN GOLD MEDAL, JIADISON SQUARE GARDEN, 

FOR BEST AMATEUR GREENHOUSE; 
CERTIFICATE OF MERIT, SOCIETY AMERICAN 

FLORISTS, and the 
SILVER MEDAL FOR 1898 of the N. Y. FLORISTS' CLUB. 

REPORT OF judges: 

Model of Iron Frame Greenhouse combining many 
good qualities, and the Committee consider same worthy 
of special mention. Points awarded: 

Utility 30 

Simplicity 25 

Desirability... 20 

Cheapness 15 



CONSERVATORIES, GREENHOUSES, Etc., ^'T.f^T.'nl'Tron 

Frame Construction, or uf Wood and Iron combined, or of Wood 
alone. Hot-Bed Sash, Frames, etc. 

Self=Feeding Hot Water Boilers.... 



90 

(Signed) JOHN N. MAY, Chairman, 
lULIUS ROEHRS, 
LAWRENCE HAFNER, 
A, S. BURNS, 



[ Judges, 



THE WEATHERED 
PATENT IMPROVED SECTIONAL BOILER 




For Small Greenhouses and 
Conservatories. 



1899 
MODEL. 



TWO SIZES. 



Also 



CONICAL 
BOILERS 

FIVE SIZES. 






COPYRIGHTED 1B89. 



SECTIONAL VIEW. 

A Few Points Claimed for this Boiler: 

Simplicity of construction. 
Sectional headers. 
Sectional ash-pit. 
Maximum vertical circulation. 
Minimum friction. 
Direct or indirect draft. 
Smoke-box on front or back. 
Rapidity of water circulation. 
Easily cleaned in every part. 
Grates on level with tire-door opening. 
Greatest amount of boiler surface exposed to radienl heat. 
Heating surfaces so arranged in fire-box that the hot gases must 
stride every part before entering combustion chamber. 



Send four cents for catalogue. Greenhouse Construction or Greenhouse Heating. 

_,__^ ,,, ■■■■-aw|i|-tipn9^ Onkie FACTORY, 196 to 240 Orient Ave., Jersey City, N.J. 

THOS. W. WEATHEntP 5 OlINb, office, 46and48MarionSt.(NewElmSt.). New York. 



The FLORISTS' Manual. 



235 



Capable ami experienced specialists, give close and personal attention to all matters, so that liigh class service alone is obtainable ^^ 

at moderate charges. Results demonstrate our policy to be a wise one. ^^ 



National Florists' Board of Trade. | 

(INCORPORATED.) 
IT DOES PROTECT NURSERYMEN, SEEDSMEN AND FLORISTS AND KINDRED INTERESTS. 
(Rooms 54, 55, 56) National Shoe and Leather Bank Building, |^ ■ b^s m m %#^^ W^ M^ ^\ 

271 BROADWAY, Comer chambers street,) IN t- W YUKl\. T 



We can assist you 
in many ways. 

Note "Our Specialties" 
and "Our Policy." 

Write 

Cornelius S. Loder, Sec'y, 

for full information. 

European and American 
references, covering 
every branch of the 
Horticultural business 
to be had on application. 




OIR SPECIALTIES: 
Collections everywhere. 
Credit reports furnished. 
Publishers of the credit 

information and black 

lists. 
Transportation losses 

adjusted. 
Partnerships organized 

and Companies 

incorporated. 
Commercial and Corpo- 
ration Law attended 

to by Counsel. 



ANY MEMBER OF THE TRADE IS INVITED TO ACCEPT THE HOSPITALITIES OF OUR OFFICE WHEN IN NEW YORK. 



rif'f^fT^'l^fTf l^ffl'MfTf l^fT' 



^fTffTfn^f^ 



Allen. J. K 22G 

American Rose Co 53, 193 

Bassett & Washburn 101 

Berning, H. G 101 

Benthey & Co 101 

Berger, H. H. & Co 225 

Bobbink & Atkins 225 

Buckbee, H. W 230 

Burpee, W. Atlee & Co 228 

Chicago House Wrecking Co 119 

Cleary & Co 203 

Cottage Gardens 45,53,57,67,108 

Craig. Robt. & Son 226 

Crowl Fern Co 101 

Darlington, H. D 81 

Dayton Paper Novelty Co 233 

Dillon, J. L 53, 101, 193, 220 

Dreer, Henry A 229 

Elchholz, Henry 229 

Eisele, C 53 

Elliott, W. H 228 

Elliott, W. & Sons 225 

EUwanger & Barry 228 

Esler, J. G. & A 223 

Florists' Publishing Co. . . .101, 203, 228 

Flower City Plant Food Co 233 

Gibbons, H. W 119,130 

Good & Reese Co. . ? 195 

Hagemann & Meyer 225 



INDEX TO ADVERTISERS. 

Hammond, B 232 

Hart & Crouse Co 233 

Henderson, Peter & Co 225 

Herr, Albert M 230 

Hews, A. H. & Co 232 

Hill, E. G. & Co 229 

Hitchings & Co 113, 127 

Hunt, B. H 230 

Jackson & Perkins Co 193 

Jacobs, S. & Sons 233 

Jennings Bros 233 

Joosten, C. H 195 

Kasting, Wm. F 101 

Kelsey, Harlan P 70 

Krick, W. C 232 

Kuehn, C. A .-101 

Kuhl, Geo. A 101 

Langjahr, Alfred H 203 

Lincoln Co., The 231 

Lockland Lumber Co 231 

Long, Daniel B 195, 210 

Lord & Burnham Co 115, 129 

Lucas, John & Co 110, 193 

McDowell, J. A 159 

McFadden, Emerson C 229 

McKellar & Winterson 101 

McManus, James 226 

Manufacturers' Rubber Co 223 

Michel Plant and Bulb Co 203 



Model Plant Stake Co 53 

Moninger Co., John C 119 

Moon, Samuel C .'...124 

National Florists' Board of Trade. 235 

Ouwerkerk, P. 195 

PoUworth, C. C. Co 230 

Purdy & Blauvelt 226 

Rawson, W. W. & Co 230 

Resser, C. A. Co 193 

Rice. M. & Co 228 

Roehrs, Julius 226 

Roemer, Fred 178 

Scollay, John A 130 

Sheridan, Walter F 226 

Skabcura Dip Co 105 

Smith, Nathan & Son 57 

Steffens, Emil ...'. 101 

Storrs & Harrison Co 193 

Stumpp & Walter Co 225 

Thorburn, J. M. & Co 203 

Tobacco Warehousing Co 105 

Vervaet de Vos, Bug 227 

Vredenburg & Co 231 

Weathered's Sons, Thos. W 234 

Wilcox, J. F 229 

Wittbold. Geo 171 

Young, John Welsh 175 



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